


One Piece at a Time

by rosieeexox



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Bottom Derek Hale, Bottom Stiles Stilinski, Christmas fic, College AU, Derek is an idiot, Eternal Sterek, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Graduation, Light Angst, M/M, Mechanic Derek, Miscommunication, Misunderstandings, No one is a werewolf, Slow Build, St. Patrick's Day, Stiles cooks a lot, Top Derek, Top Stiles Stilinski, Valentine's Day, Wedding Fluff, baseball fic, danny ACTUALLY took stiles virginity, everyone is a mechanic, holiday au, i basically stock piled everything into this, lydia and jackson are engaged, mechanic fic, mechanic scott mccall, new years eve fic, some super light d/s stuff, stiles has a lot of car problems, stiles is a blowjob pro, thats not a spoiler, this is turning into a holiday fic, very brief but its there
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-13
Updated: 2017-10-24
Packaged: 2018-12-27 17:00:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 24,994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12085374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosieeexox/pseuds/rosieeexox
Summary: Scott is a mechanic who never answers his phone. Derek is also a mechanic who never leaves the shop. Stiles has a low alcohol tolerance and lots of car problems. Everyone knows except Stiles and Derek. This also turns into a holiday fic halfway through, so if you were here for the car stuff, I'm sorry!Title is a song by Johnny Cash.





	1. Summer

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is based off of real places. I was driving home one day and noticed two car shops right down the road from each other one with a big ass sign that said McCall and one that said Hale. I yelled my ideas into my phone and saved it as a voice note and now here we are. I know nothing about cars so any facts, terms, and descriptions are based solely off of Google. If anything is wildly inaccurate please let me know so I can fix it. Also, I have never been to California so anything about traveling there is probably deeply offensive to Californians and their beloved geography.

_I got it one piece at a time_

_And it didn't cost me a dime_

_You'll know it's me when I come through your town_

_I'm gonna ride around in style_

_I'm gonna drive everybody wild_

_'Cause I'll have the only one there is around._

 

Stiles was drunk. Not only was he drunk, but he was also the last one left at Bubba’s Bar. Even Bubba had left. Stiles could just see his taillights disappear around the bend when he pulled out his phone to call Scott. Scott was supposed to meet him at the bar 3 hours ago, the least he could do was come pick him up. Unless he was too busy with Allison.

It’s early August, they have approximately 3 weeks before they have to go back to school for their senior year of college. Scott wasn’t even going to come home this summer, was just going to fly with Allison to Chicago and stay there with her family. Stiles somehow convinced them to come back to Beacon Hills for the last 3 weeks of summer so that they could all drive back together. Stiles is a genius.

Except that was two days ago and Stiles has not seen Scott since he picked up him and Allison at the airport. They probably haven’t even left the house. They were disgusting. It’s a good thing Melissa worked long hours at the hospital so she didn’t have to be as disgusted with her son as Stiles was. I mean, _really_ , who needs to kiss that much?! Anyway. Right. Stiles needs to call Scott to come pick him up.

He finds Scott’s contact and presses the call button. No answer. Of course not. Stiles checks the time, it’s almost 3am. Melissa would be home from her shift by now, so maybe Scott and Allison went somewhere else to stare into each other’s eyes underneath the stars. Honestly, that’s probably what they were doing.

 _Duh._ Stiles thinks to himself. _I’ll call the shop._

It takes Stiles a full 5 minutes to realize he doesn’t remember the number to Scott’s car shop.

“Siri,” He shouts into the phone. “Find Scott’s stupid mechanic shop near me.”

Siri pulls up the page and Stiles presses the “Call now” button. At least he can rely on Siri. His eyesight is blurry and Stiles has to close one eye to make sure the call is connected before bringing it up to his ear. He gets the automated voice mailbox and sighs.

“I know you guys are there,” He huffs into the phone after hearing the beep. “When you’re done making out please come pick me up at Bubba’s. You didn’t meet me out, Scotty, it’s the least you could do. I’m gonna be sleeping in my car ‘til then so just knock on my windows ‘til I wake up. I’m tiiiiired, Scott. See you soon. It’s Stiles. Okay, love you, bye.”

Stiles climbed into the back seat of his car and laid down. He wasn’t really planning on falling asleep, but the next thing he knows, he’s being woken up by a loud knock on the window right above his head.

Stiles sits up and the whole car feels like it’s spinning at _at least_ 50 mph. The parking lot is dimly lit, but the little bit of light shines on the knocker and even in Stiles’ state he can tell that is definitely _not_ Scott. For one thing, the stranger is several inches taller and several pounds of muscle heavier. If Stiles wasn’t so convinced he was about to die, he would probably be impressed by his soon-to-be-murderer’s biceps.

Stiles scrambles to the other side of the car, his fight or flight instincts finally taking over. He struggles with the door for a second before it opens and Stiles is diving out of the car. Naturally, his foot gets caught on the seat belt and he’s about to brain himself on the car door when strong arms catch him by his armpits.

“Did you save me just so you could kill me yourself?” Stiles wonders aloud. “That’s messed up, dude.”

He’s still hanging halfway out of the car and all he can see of his killer are his shoes. He’s about to be murdered by someone wearing flip flops.

“Why do you keep saying I’m going to murder you?” The potentially-not-a-serial-killer asks.

“What else would you be doing in a parking lot at 3am?”

“By that logic, you would be a murderer as well.”

Stiles is silent for a minute, his brain is running much slower than normal due to all the alcohol and it takes him a while to formulate a response. But, before he can respond, the flip flop wearing totally probably not a serial killer speaks again.

“Anyway, I’m here because you called me. By mistake, clearly. But you didn’t sound like you were in the right mind to realize your mistake.”

Stiles sits himself up in the car and looks at the man standing next to him. Yup. Definitely not Scott. Scott’s eyebrows have never made Stiles’ stomach feel funny.

“S-sorry.” Stiles manages to slur out. He looks the stranger over again and notices his flip flops are accompanied by sweatpants and a white tank top. Now that he’s mostly convinced this guy is not about to murder him, he is _definitely_ impressed by his biceps. And shoulders. And abs that are very obvious through his shirt. Stiles accidentally called a literal Abercrombie model instead of Scott. How is his life real?

“Actually, uh, I’m a mechanic.” The hot stranger who is hopefully not a serial killer responds.

If Stiles wasn’t so drunk, he would probably be embarrassed that he had said all of that out loud. But he’s also somewhat convinced this is a dream, so.

Somehow, Stiles manages to make it out of his car and into the stranger's’ car in one piece. He also manages to direct said stranger to his house and only asks him fifteen more times whether he’s going to come back and murder him or not. He debates mentioning that his dad is the Sheriff, but he doesn’t want this to turn into a hostage situation. He’d much rather be murdered than kidnapped and tortured. Probably.

Fortunately, tonight is not the night to make that decision, and he’s passed out on the living room couch before he knows it.

 

His dad wakes him up what feels like 5 minutes later but is probably several hours later.

“Rough night?” He asks.

Stiles mumbles a response, still half asleep. He needs water.

“I’m afraid to ask what you got up to since Scott just informed me that he wasn’t with you last night.”

“Scott’s here?” Stiles sits up a little. He _really_ needs water. And ibuprofen. And a new liver. Fortunately, he finds the first two on the coffee table next to the couch. He’ll search the dark web for a new liver later.

“Figured I could drive you to your car on my way into work.” Scott offers softly.

“It’s the least you could do.” Stiles retorts, popping four pills and downing the entire glass of water. “You could also offer to buy my breakfast.”

Scott silently procures a styrofoam carton and as soon as Stiles sees it he can smell the bacon and eggs.

“I love you.” Stiles says, sitting up to accept the food. “You’re forgiven.”

Scott smiles. “Sorry about last night, me and Allison were watching a movie so I turned my phone off.”

Stiles doesn’t comment on the obvious lie and continues shoving pieces of bacon in his mouth.

Once they’re in the car, Scott gives him a funny look.

“What?”

“Who drove you home?”

Suddenly, Stiles remembers bits and pieces of last night. He remembers flip flops, and abs, and strong arms. Oh god.

“I called some dude by mistake and he came to pick me up after I left him a probably very strange voicemail.”

Stiles pulls up the browser on his phone and sure enough in the search bar is “mechanic near me.” with the phone number for Hale’s Brake & Wheel.

“Huh, who knew there was another car shop nearby? And what are the odds it’s closer to Bubba’s than yours? I can’t believe I didn’t notice, I was so hammered.”

“I know.” Scott laughs. “You left me a really weird voicemail last night that a hot pair of eyebrows drove you home and that you’ve never been so attracted to a pair of flip flops before in your life.”

It’s a good thing Scott has known him since they were in diapers. Otherwise Stiles might be a little bit embarrassed.

When Stiles gets to his car, he notices a piece of paper stuck in his windshield.

 _Please don’t be a parking ticket._ Stiles unfolds the paper and sees that it’s a bill from Hale’s Brake & Wheel for…$300?!

What the fuck.

Stiles dials the number at the top of the bill and notices it’s the same number he called last night.

“Hello?” A female voice answers.

“Hi, uh, I called here last night and some dude gave me a ride home and now there’s a bill on my windshield for $300 for ‘towing and gas.’ but my car is definitely where I left it so there’s no way I’m paying this.” Stiles says it confidently, but he’s a little nervous that he’s going to be charged $300 for dialing a wrong number and having a lovesick puppy for a best friend.

The woman sounds like she’s trying to hold back a laugh. “I am sorry to hear about that. If you’d like to stop by and dispute the bill you received we would be more than happy to work with you to resolve it.”

“Uh, okay. Thanks, I’ll be there soon.” Stiles is suspicious, but he also _really_ doesn’t want to pay $300 for a ride home.

 

He pulls up to the address that’s still on his browser on his phone and Stiles has no idea how he’s never seen this place before. The sign is huge and the building itself it pretty large.

He parks his car and the bell chimes as he opens the door. The shop is pretty similar to Scott’s so he finds the front desk pretty easily. He’s expecting to see a woman at the desk, since that’s who answered the phone. Instead he finds a tall, dark, and handsome man that is infinitely more intimidating than the sweet-sounding woman from the phone.

“Can I help you?” The man asks. His name tag says ‘Boyd’ and god damn, even his name is intimidating.

“Yeah, uh, I called a little while ago. Actually, I called last night and got a ride from someone who hopefully works here and didn’t hear my message as he was robbing the place. But it doesn’t look like there was a break in so it probably an employee. Anyway. Uh, well, he gave me a ride and then this morning I found a bill on my windshield charging me for a tow and gas money and, like, I didn’t get my car towed anywhere so if I still have to pay for gas I guess that’s fine but I am not paying $300 just because I got drunk and called the wrong number and got a ride to my house which is only approximately 3 miles from Bubba’s so definitely not even a tanks worth of gas. So, uh, yeah. My name is Stiles.” He finishes lamely, not really knowing why offering up his name was necessary.

The guy, Boyd, looks like he’s trying not to laugh at Stiles, who is very obviously in distress.

“Can I see the bill?”

Stiles hands it to him silently.

Boys does let out a small chuckle when he looks at the bill before crumpling it up and throwing it in the trash.Stiles’ eyes widen comically.

“Don’t worry about it.” Boyd informs him.

“Really?” Stiles practically squeaks.

“Yeah,” Boyd chuckles again. “I think someone was playing a prank on you.”

“What a dick.” Stiles says, putting his hands on his hips. “I bet it was the guy that drove me home. You know, that’s really not cool, dude. You should tell the manager. I was going to have a heart attack if I had to pay that. He should be fired. So uncool.”

“I will relay your complaint to the manager.”

Stiles feels a little guilty. The guy _did_ drive him home. “Don’t actually fire him, though. I mean, he came to pick me up. He didn’t have to do that. My useless best friend was supposed to come and get me. And it was kind of funny, to be honest. Probably something I would do.”

Boyd stares at him for a moment. “Okay.” is all he says.

Stiles thanks Boyd again, several times, before leaving and awkwardly waving before the door shuts behind him.

 

It’s an hour later before Derek arrives, Erica and Boyd are both behind the desk smirking at him.

“What?” Derek asks, with a roll of his eyes.

“Your boy came in today, you just missed him.” Erica says, clearly holding back a laugh.

Derek visibly stiffens.

“You tried to charge him for a tow?” Boyd asks, only moderately better at hiding his own amusement.

Derek says nothing.

“I knew you were bad at flirting, Der, but this is just pitiful.”

“Thank you, Erica.” Derek grinds out. “I wasn’t flirting.”

“What did you charge him $300 for then?” Boyd asks, sounding genuinely interested.

"He was hoping he'd come in, obviously." Erica is still smirking.

“Well, it was very inconvenient for me to have to pick him up at 3am, and he talked nonstop, and we got lost twice which wastes a lot of gas, you know.” Even to Derek, his explanation sounds weak. 

Erica says nothing as she walks into the garage, an ever present smirk still on her face. Boyd at least has the decency to look somewhat convinced before following Erica out.

Derek sighs and shakes his head. He looks around twice before checking the register to make sure there wasn’t a transaction for $300. His shoulders sag in relief before realizing this means he _still_ doesn’t know the obnoxious strangers name. Thankfully, Erica and Boyd are busy the rest of the day so they can’t bug him about it.

 

It’s 2 days later when Stiles gets flat tire on his way home from bringing his dad lunch at the station. He’s not in a rush or anything, but it’s 90 degrees today and he’d rather not have to change a tire in that heat. On the bright side, he doesn’t have to change the tire. On the dark side, it’s because he never replaced his spare tire in his trunk and he has to call for a tow.

He calls Scott. No answer. He calls the shop.

“Hello?!” Scott answers, sounding frantic.

“Hey Scott, it’s me.”

“What?”

“It’s Stiles.”

“Oh!” Scott yells into the phone. “Listen, I can’t really talk right now, man. I accidentally overbooked for today and there’s like, a hundred cars here. Is it an emergency?”

Stiles looks at his tire and sighs heavily. “Nah, dude. I’ll call ya later, good luck.”

“See you later!” Scott shouts before the call disconnects.

Stiles sighs again before dialing the number for Hale’s Brake & Wheel.

“Hello?”

“Oh, good!” Stiles says excitedly. “It’s nice phone girl not big scary desk guy. This is Stiles. I came in the other day about the ridiculous towing bill one of your evil employees tried to give me?”

“Hi _Stiles,_ ” Erica says loudly into the phone. “You can call us Erica and Boyd, respectively. What can I do for you today?”

Stiles ignores the weird emphasis she put on his name and informs her of his flat tire. “And no, before you ask, I do not have a spare so if you could please bring one of those that would be great.”

“Sure thing, Stiles. I’ll send someone out to you right away.”

“Thanks!”

 

That was two hours ago. Stiles is delusional with boredom and hunger by the time a blue pick-up truck pulls up behind him. He’d probably be delusional with heat stroke as well if it wasn’t for the air conditioner in his car.

“Finally!” Stiles shouts, expecting to see big scary desk guy, Boyd. Instead, he sees a lanky boy who’s probably around his age with curly hair and lopsided smile. He’s also wearing a scarf. In August. What.

“Sorry!” The boy’s eyes widen and he’s frantically trying to load the tire out of the bed of the pick up truck. His uniform reads ‘Isaac.’ "Erica gave me the wrong address and I had to go back and get the right one after I towed someone across town."

“Don’t worry about it, Isaac! I’m just glad to finally have some company. Would you believe that only two people have driven past my since I got this flat tire? And neither of them stopped! That’s what I get for taking the back roads home from Lydia’s.”

Isaac gives him a funny look like he doesn’t really know what to address first. Eventually he settles on asking which tire it is. Then, it’s Stiles’ turn to give him a funny look because its very obvious which tire is flat and Stiles isn’t even a mechanic. Stiles points wordlessly and moves to sit down in the shade.

It only takes about 20 minutes before Stiles has a brand new tire and his old one is loaded into the bed of Isaac’s truck.

“Will you be paying with cash or card?” Isaac asks him.

“Card.”

“Alright, it’ll be $280 for the tire, plus $20 for the labor. That’s gonna put you at $300.”

Stiles lets out a surprised laugh at the irony and hands over his card. Isaac slides the card through the reader and it makes a negatively sounding beep. Stiles frowns.

“I swear, I have money!”

Isaac hands him his card back. “That’s alright, our reader is just down. You can come by tomorrow and pay if you want.”

“You’re just gonna let me drive away without paying?!” Stiles asks incredulously.

“Erica said you were a very important client and to not inconvenience you.”

Stiles laughs again in surprise. “Alrighty then, tell Erica I will see her tomorrow at noon.”

Isaac nods happily and bounces all the way back to his pick-up truck. Stiles shakes his head in disbelief and starts his car.

 

True to his word, Stiles shows up at exactly 11:58 the next morning to pay his bill. However, instead of seeing a woman at the desk, there is, yet again, another big scary man. It’s not Boyd, and almost definitely not Erica. And unless Isaac suddenly had a growth spurt and gained about 200 pounds of muscle, it’s not him either.

The bell chimes as Stiles opens the door and the guy at the desk looks up. Stiles instantly recognizes him and he’s immediately filled with surprise, embarrassment and...something else.

“Eyebrows!” He yells casually, letting the door swing shut behind him. “Good to know you haven’t been fired for that bogus bill you gave me.”

Eyebrows’ eyes widen and Stiles almost misses it. Almost. Before his expressionless face sets itself right again.

“Kind of hard to fire me considering I’m the owner.”

Stiles stops in his tracks. “You’re the owner? But you’re barely thirty! How do you own an entire business?”

“I’m good at what I do.” Eyebrows informs him, digging through a folder on the counter. “Besides, doesn’t your friend own his own business, too? He's barely twenty.” There’s a small smirk on his lips.

“Technically, he inherited it from his father. And for your information Scott is twenty-two. As am I” Stiles says matter of factly, although hes not quite sure why he offered up that last bit of information.

They both stand there in silence for a moment, the only sound is Eyebrows digging through the folder. Stiles _really_ wished he knew his actual name so he could stop referring to him as ‘Eyebrows’ in his head. Stiles also wished he didn’t just fucking call this dude Eyebrows when he walked in, but he’ll dwell on that later.

Finally, the guy pulls a piece of paper out of the folder and lays it in the counter in front of Stiles. “That’ll be $200 even.”

Stiles looks up at him skeptically. “Isaac said it was $300.”

“I gave you a discount on the tire. Consider it an apology for the other night. I thought it would be funny.”

Stiles says nothing as he hands his card over. “It was kind of funny. Once I realized it was a joke, of course.” Fuck it, he thinks. “I’m Stiles, by the way.”

“Derek.” Is all he gets. The older man too busy still punching things into the keypad of the credit card scanner.

Derek. DerekDerekDerekDerekDerek. Stiles repeats the name over in his head so he doesn’t forget it.

“Well, Derek,” Stiles says, putting the card Derek just returned to him back in his wallet. “Thanks for the discount and tell Isaac I said thank you for saving my ass.” Stiles is about to leave when his brain fully processes their previous conversation. “Wait.”

Derek looks up at him, he almost looks...nervous?

“How do you know Scott?” Stiles asks, and he can see Derek’s shoulders relax. God, those shoulders. No. Focus. Stiles misses the first half of Derek’s answer but he can still put the pieces together.

“...in San Francisco and he is literally the only other mechanic in town.”

“Cool. See you later!” Stiles calls out, before he’s jogging to his card and dialing up Scott.

 

“Hello?” He doesn’t sound too busy at work. Plus, he answered his cell. Good. Because Stiles had a lot to rant about right now.

“Scott! It’s Stiles. You’ll never believe what I just found out!” Stiles continues before Scott can respond. “Eyebrows has a name, and it’s Derek. And you _know_ him Scott. Or, at least, he knows you. And you guys met at that stupid mechanics convention in San Francisco that you almost made me go to. Which means I could have met Eyebrows, sorry, _Derek,_ even earlier and probably in a more charming way than nose diving out of my backseat while drunk. Also, he’s even cuter when I’m sober. Like, his eyes and his arms and his _shoulders._ I thought I was going to die. He wasn’t even doing anything, just standing there, looking like a fucking God punching numbers into a cash register. And he gave me a discount, Scotty, what do you think _that_ means?”

“What?”

“Seriously? All that and all you can say is ‘What?’”

“To be honest, I missed half of what you said because you were talking so fast. But I had no idea the guy you’ve been obsessing over was Derek.”

“You’re the only who mechanics in town, who else could I possibly be talking about?!”

“I don’t know, he has a lot of employees. It could have been any of them.”

Stiles rolls his eyes. “Well your negligence has just cost you your most loyal customer. I am never calling McCall’s Motors ever again.

“Good.” Scott yawns. “Then I can finally get some work done.”

Stiles squawks. “How dare you.”

“Shut up, dude. I’ll call you later.”

“Love you!” Stiles shouts dramatically as he ends the call.

 

After that, Stiles sees the staff of Hale Brake & Wheel everywhere. He sees Erica and Boyd in the supermarket. He gets stuck at a red light next to Isaac and his blue pick-up truck. He sees the three of them leaving the movie theater one night. But he never sees Derek.

And then, summer is over. Stiles, Scott, and Allison head back to school. Stiles and Scott room together, _of course._ Which leads to them having their own dorm room Thanksgiving. With Allison, of course. They let Allison cook the turkey, but Stiles handles everything else.

 

They do, however, decide to go home for Christmas.


	2. Winter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is totally unbeta'd so please let me know if there are any horrifying mistakes!!

_ I got it one piece at a time _

_ And it didn't cost me a dime _

_ You'll know it's me when I come through your town _

_ I'm gonna ride around in style _

_ I'm gonna drive everybody wild _

_ 'Cause I'll have the only one there is around. _

 

Scott drives because Stiles was absolutely not chauffeuring them back to Beacon Hills while they made out in the back seat. Instead, Stiles mostly sleeps in the back seat while Allison rides shotgun and probably makes out with Scott at red lights. Disgusting.

 

The first thing they do when they get back to Beacon Hills is get sent on a mission to find a Christmas tree for the police station. 

“Where do you even get a Christmas tree?” Stiles wonders aloud. Scott shrugs.

“The forest?” Allison suggests.

“Well, we can’t cut down any of the trees in the preserve. It’s against the law.” Stiles informs her.

“Isn’t your dad the Sheriff?”

Scott laughs. “If only that got either of us any sort of immunity from the law.”

Stiles shudders at the memories of him and/or Scott spending several hours in a holding cell on several different occasions. He types in “christmas tree near me” into his Google search bar and immediately rolls his eyes. The first and only result reads “Hale Lumber & Co.” Of course.

Scott, thankfully, says nothing as he plugs the address into his GPS.

 

Hale Lumber & Co. takes up a very large section of land on the far end of town. There was a huge fire over a decade ago and the forest was wiped out. Talia Hale planted new trees and even more grew back along with them. Now, she sells Christmas trees in the space and leaves the other trees alone.

 

Stiles takes a deep breath after putting the car in park. They’re immediately greeted by a kind looking girl that looks to be only slightly older than them.

“Hi! Welcome to our Christmas tree farm!” She says excitedly. Stiles snorts. “My name is Laura, are you looking for a specific size tree?”

“It’s for the police station.” Scott tells her. “So not too big that it gets in the way.”

“I know just the tree!” Laura announces, and begins walking towards a section of medium-looking trees.

Stiles takes a quick glance around and sees Derek immediately. He’s wearing a white t-shirt despite the fact that it’s barely 40 degrees outside. He’s also helping a very small, very old lady load a gigantic tree onto the hood of her car, because  _ of course  _ he is. He takes one look at the older man’s strained biceps and spins on his heel to follow his friends. Derek is a mechanic, he has no business helping little old ladies and effortlessly carrying trees the size of Stiles around in a tight fitting shirt. Stiles sighs for the hundredth time.  _ How rude. _

 

Stiles manages to avoid Derek  _ and  _ successfully find and load a tree onto his Jeep. He also placed an order for Lydia, who called him last minute and informed her that Jackson forgot to got a Christmas tree for the Christmas party. He even paid the little extra to get it delivered the next day because he’s the best. Which is what the delivery note says.

 

Its several hours later that Derek is helping Laura and his mother lock everything down. He’s closing out the register when he sees a familiar name that makes his adrenaline kick in.  _ Ticket for Delivery - Stiles _ . Derek takes the receipt with the delivery address, along with a few other delivery orders.

“I’ll do the deliveries tomorrow.” Derek calls out. He can’t see his sister or mother, but the office is quiet so he knows they’ll be able to hear him.

“Okay, dear.” He hears his mother answer.

Laura appears out of nowhere with a smirk on her face. Why do all the women in his life feel the need to smirk at him like they know something?

“Want some help with the deliveries, baby brother?”

“No.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yep.”

Laura’s smirk turns into more of a scowl.

“You’re not subtle.” She informs him.

Derek is about to tell her he has no idea what she’s talking about, but instead opts for silence and leaves the office; delivery orders in hand. There’s no way he’s risking leaving them for Laura to sort through and find another reason to smirk.

 

When Derek arrives at the lumber yard to load up the truck, Laura is already there.

“I knew he was your type.” Laura says innocently. Before Derek can sputter out a response, she’s walking away to unlock the gates. 

Derek grumbles as he gets into the car and pulls out onto the road, Laura waving at him in his rear view mirror.

 

Derek doesn’t deliver Stiles’ tree first. He has  _ some  _ self control and there are three stops that are on his way that he stops at first. He pulls up to the address Stiles listed and whistles. The house is huge. Like, one of the biggest houses in Beacon Hills. Next to the Hale’s, of course. 

Derek knocks on the door and is greeted by a gorgeous woman with long, strawberry blonde hair. She’s talking on the phone, but waves him inside with a manicured finger. 

“I’ve got to go, love, the tree is here.” She turns to him, smiling sincerely. “Hi, I’m Lydia. Follow me to the living room so I can show you exactly where to put the tree. It’s exactly 7 feet tall, right?”

Derek nods.

“Great! Is it just you?”

Derek nods again.

“Well, my fiance isn’t here to help you, and I’m certainly not dressed for lugging a tree up the front steps. Can you handle it on your own?”

Fiance. 

Derek must nod because Lydia walks away as her phone rings again. He takes a second to process everything. Fiance. Stiles has a fiance. Stiles has a fiance and it’s a  _ girl.  _ A beautiful girl and a big house and a fancy Christmas party. 

Derek carries the tree and loads it on autopilot. He barely registers Lydia tipping him $20 before he’s back in his truck and driving to the next house. It takes him 3 miles to realize he never typed in the address. He was driving in the wrong direction.

 

His day doesn’t get better, but at least it doesn’t get any worse. He makes the rest of the deliveries, and part of him wishes he had Laura to help him. He had a total of 8 deliveries today, and by the time he gets back with an empty truck, he’s almost too exhausted to remember to be sad.

Almost. 

 

Nobody says anything about Derek’s foul mood until a few days later. It’s Erica, of course.

“What crawled up your butt and died?” She asks, eloquent as always.

“Nothing.”

“Come on, Derek. I get at least three syllables out of you on a bad day.”

Derek says nothing.

“Is it about Stiles?”

“Who gives a fuck about Stiles, Erica?”

She’s silent for a minute. “So, it is.”

Derek is silent.

“Did he do something?”

“No.”

“Did  _ you  _ do something?”

“No.”

Erica sighs, but she doesn’t push it. Derek is grateful. Silently grateful.

 

The next day, however, Erica is anything but when she runs into Stiles in the mall food court. He’s just throwing away his tray when she steps into his path.

“Hey!” He greets her with a genuine smile. He has a spot of ketchup on the corner of his mouth and she has a weird motherly urge to wipe it away with her thumb. 

“Shopping?” Is all she asks.

“Yeah! Been shopping all day, actually. At first, I was only here to get something for my dad. But then Scott told me he needed something for Allison, and then Jackson gave me his shopping list for Lydia. It’s presents  _ and  _ decorations. Can you believe it? Lydia chooses  _ him  _ and I’m still stuck doing all the work.” He laughs and rolls his eyes in mock annoyance. 

“Who’s Lydia?”

“Oh! My friend. She has a huge Christmas party every year. Do you work at the lumber yard, too? Maybe you delivered her tree. She was very specific, she needed a tree that was exactly 7 feet tall. Do you know who delivered it? She hasn’t called me to tell me it was too tall, or not tall enough, so I guess you guys did alright. I would have delivered it myself but there’s no way it was going to fit in my Jeep.”

“No,” Erica says slowly, trying to process everything at once. “Uh, I only work at the shop. When did you order it?”

“A couple days ago.” Stiles responds, finally wiping away the ketchup. 

“Thanks, Stiles. I’ll see you later!” Erica calls out, already several steps away.  _ Derek’s an idiot.  _ She thinks to herself, smirking.

 

The mall is closing when Stiles finally has everything he needs. For himself, and for everyone else. He somehow manages to fit everything in his Jeep, and slams the trunk closed with a sigh. He shivers slightly as he turns the key in the ignition. Nothing. He tries again. Still nothing.

“God damnit.” He whispers under his breath, his phone already calling Scott. No answer. What a surprise. He calls the shop. No answer.

“I don’t know how you run a business if you never answer the fucking phone.” Stiles yells after the beep.

He hangs up and debates calling his dad. He calls Hale Brake & Wheel instead.

 

Derek shows up no more than 45 minutes later, his giant tow truck illuminating the now-empty parking lot.

Stiles hops out of his car and Derek extends his hands, asking for the keys, by way of warning. He puts the key in the ignition and tries to start the car. Nothing.

“I already tried that.” Stiles informs him.

“Just checking.”

Derek pops the hood of the car and immediately sees the issue. The battery has been unplugged. He makes a big show of pretending to jump Stiles’ car and thankfully, Stiles stays out of the way. Finally, he plugs the battery back in and turns the key in the ignition. It starts.

“Oh thank God!” Stiles exclaims. “I thought I was going to freeze to death out here. How much do I owe you?”

“Don’t worry about it.” Derek sighs. He can’t very well charge Stiles for an unplugged battery. Especially when he’s pretty sure he knows how it got unplugged, if Erica’s text earlier is anything to go by.  _ Have fun later ;)  _

But, he also can’t tell Stiles that his idiot of an employee (no, she is not his friend right now) unplugged his car battery so that he would have to call Derek.

“What?! Dude, you had to drive all the way out here, jump my car, and it’s freezing out. Let me give you  _ something. _ ” And no, Derek’s mind is  _ not  _ going to go there.

“You can owe me one.” 

“Well in that case, what are you doing on Christmas?”

“This Christmas?”

Stiles barks out a laugh. “Yes, this Christmas. As in, two days from now?”

“Uh, nothing.” Derek answers slowly. “We normally just make a ham and watch Charlie Brown.”

“Perfect! Come to Lydia’s!” Derek flinches.

“Uh-”

“All of you! Extend the invite to both Hale corporations!” Stiles is looking at him so sincerely that Derek can’t help it.

“Okay.” He agrees.

“Awesome! Great!” Stiles is bouncing on his heels excitedly. “It’s at 7 o’clock. Don’t come early unless you want to get stuck with last minute decorating. Dress fancy.” And then he’s hopping into his car. 

Derek is still standing in the cold staring as Stiles’ car exits the parking lot.

He’s so fucked.

 

“A party?!” Erica exclaims excitedly. “Fuck yes!”

“He said everyone’s invited, but I’m revoking your invitation.” Derek says seriously.

“Why?!” Erica whines.

“Does an unplugged battery ring a bell?” Erica visibly stiffens.

“Um, no?” She tries, weakly.

“He could have  _ died,  _ Erica! It was freezing out! Obviously Scott didn’t answer, which is why he called me. Us. The shop. What if I didn’t answer?!”

“Who gives a fuck about Stiles, Erica.” She mocks him from a few days earlier. 

“Shut up.” 

Erica smirks and Derek walks away with a roll of his eyes. 

 

To say Derek was nervous was an understatement. He was also dreading having to see Stiles, probably in a suit, with his  _ fiancé  _ draped all over him. Why did Stiles even invite him? Well, technically he invited everyone. But  _ why? _

“There's only one way to find out.” Erica says, reading his mind. There was something very suspicious about how eager she was to go to this party. Erica always gets excited for a party, but something was definitely up. 

Before he could talk himself out of it, he reaches his hand out to knock on the door. Erica, on the other hand, simply turns the handle and walks inside. 

“Erica!” Derek hisses after her. 

“It’s alright, Derek.” His mother says soothingly. “Stiles told us to just come on in!”

That was the other thing. Derek hadn't planned on including his mother in the invite. Although, that's probably what Stiles had meant by “both Hale corporations.” Laura and Cora came, too. This was going to be a disaster. 

 

Derek was wrong. It isn’t a disaster. It’s worse.

 

About 10 minutes into the party, Derek realizes that his assumption was very, very wrong. The minute he sees a tall boy with sharp green eyes and even sharper cheekbones, he just  _ knows  _ this is the fiance. God, he’s stupid. Said fiance is introduced to him as Jackson. Jackson shakes his hand with a suspicious look in his eye, like he can read Derek’s mind. Derek says nothing about the misunderstanding, but Erica is smirking like she already knows.

 

“You just found out Lydia isn’t engaged to Stiles, why do you still look like you want to murder everyone in this room?” Erica approaches him, obviously tipsy. 

“I don’t.”

“You do, trust me. Even Jackson’s blind grandmother won’t come near you. You’re radiating negative energy, whats up?”

Derek huffs, but jerks his head towards the opposite corner of the room. Erica turns to see Stiles talking to Cora.

“Oh my god, Derek.” Erica groans. “You don’t honestly think  _ that’s  _ happening, do you?”

“It proves that he’s straight, at least.” 

Someone behind him snorts. “You’re not talking about Stiles, are you?”

Derek feels his face heat up. “No.”

“We are, actually. You know him?” Erica asks.

“Oh, I know him.” The boy responds, smirking slightly. Derek wants to leave. “And he’s not straight, trust me. I would know.” Before Derek can ask how, the boy continues. “Danny Mahealani, taker of Stiles’ virginity.” He announces, reaching his hand out for a handshake. Derek  _ needs  _ to leave. Erica shakes his hand and Derek downs the rest of his drink. 

Danny excuses himself with a wink.

“I want to leave.” Derek says, turning to Erica.

Erica rolls her eyes and walks away. Right towards Stiles. Great.

 

Derek gets about 2 minutes to prepare before Stiles, Cora, and Erica are standing in front of him.

“I knew you were here, somewhere.” Stiles says, slurring slightly. He’s long since lost his suit jacket, and his red tie is loose around his neck. His white shirt fits tightly around his arms, and his pants leave very little to imagination. Not that Derek has ever imagined Stiles’ ass. Anyway.

“Is Cora the cool sibling,” He starts. “Or do you like superheroes, too?”

“Superheroes?” Derek asks, confused.

“Derek  _ loves  _ superheroes.” Erica smirks. “Do you know what I love? Alcohol.”

“Me, too!” Cora shrieks.

“You’re not even old enough to drink.” Derek whispers.

Cora flips him off before linking her arm with Erica’s and walking away towards the buffet table.

Now that Derek is done scowling at one specific corner of the house, he can notice just how extravagant the decorations are. There’s tinsel, and wreaths, and ornaments, and glitter everywhere. Everything else is covered in shiny, red fabric. Derek is still looking at the decorations and totally not avoiding looking at Stiles when Stiles clears his throat.

“So, uh, do you like superheroes?” He asks.

Derek can feel his face turning red. “Yeah.”

“Marvel or DC?”

“Marvel.”

“Oh, you wound me.” Stiles yells, holding his chest like he’s been shot. Derek isn’t sure what to say. “At least tell me your favorite Marvel superhero is Captain America.”

“Black Widow, actually.” 

“Good enough.” Stiles smiles and it’s beaming. “Your cup is empty.”

“Yeah, uh, I just finished it.”

“Let’s get you another one! Maybe then your eyebrows will stop trying to kill me.” 

“Why do you always think I’m trying to kill you?”

Stiles barks out a laugh, but says nothing as he drags Derek towards the kitchen for a drink.

 

For a whole 10 minutes Derek forgets everything except for the way Stiles’ eyes look when they’re peeking over his cup at him, and the way Stiles’ whole face lights up when he smiles. And then Lydia is dragging him away for a “food emergency” and Stiles is throwing an apologetic look over his shoulder as he’s pulled out of the kitchen. Where the food is. 

Jealousy flares in Derek’s stomach for a second, until he remembers Jackson. Then he remembers Danny and downs the rest of his drink. Again.

 

A few hours later the party is winding down and Erica is  _ finally  _ ready to leave. Derek mostly stuck to the kitchen, hoping Stiles would come back for him. They’re on their way out when someone calls his name.

“Derek!” It’s Lydia.

Derek smiles at her nervously.

“Can you do me a favor?”

“I’m not taking the tree down.” 

Lydia laughs, and it’s the first time he’s seen her relax all night.

“No, no. Jackson is definitely going to do that. Can you drive Stiles home?”

Derek feels his blood run cold with adrenaline. 

“Uh-”

“Sorry, I know it’s kind of out of the way but I have no idea where Scott and Allison went.”

_ Huh,  _ Derek thinks to himself.  _ I didn’t even know they were here. _

“We can drive him home.” Erica cuts in.

“There isn’t really room in the Camaro, but I guess we could squeeze him in.” Boyd offers.

Erica laughs. “I already called us a cab.”

Boyd and Derek both look at her, confused.

“To the hotel?” 

Derek rolls his eyes. “Jesus is watching.”

Erica flips him off and then she’s dragging Boyd into the back of the cab.

Derek turns to see Lydia looking at him expectantly. 

Yeah,” Derek sighs. “I’ll take him.”

Lydia’s smile brightens and she skips away, presumably to go get Stiles.

 

Derek fidgets nervously at the door, waiting. It only takes a few minutes for Stiles to appear, looking very tired and very disheveled, his jacket thrown haphazardly over his shoulder.

As soon as they get in the car, though, Stiles gets a burst of energy.

“You met Jackson, right?” He asks as soon as they’re pulling away from the house.

“Yeah.” Derek says slowly.

“He’s cool, but I still think Lydia deserves better. And that’s not because I spent the first 12 years of my life obsessing over her. Well, maybe a little. But anyway, if he was mean to you, don’t take it personally. Even though you look like you could take him if it came down to it. But he’s like that to everyone. At least, that’s what Lydia says.”

“He didn’t really say much to me.”

“That’s good,” Stiles sighs. “He can be a real jackass.” Stiles laughs loudly. “Oh my God, jackass. Get it? Jackson. Jackass. Damn, I’m hilarious.”

Derek is about to respond, but Stiles beats him to it. Derek thinks that’s the way most of Stiles’ interactions go.

“I’ll have to use that the next time he calls me names. I’ll just say ‘Okay, Jackass Whittemore.’ and then run away before he can kick my ass. Unless you’re there, then you can murder him or something.”

“I’m not a murderer.” Derek says, a little too harshly.

“Reaaaal convincing, dude.” Stiles jokes. “I know you’re not a murderer, otherwise I definitely would have been dead right now. Anyway, who else did you meet? Did you see Scott? Did Erica have fun?”

“Yeah, uh, your boyfriend Danny seemed nice.” Derek immediately kicks himself.  _ Real subtle, idiot. _

Stiles snorts and starts off on a new rant about how Derek would have seen Scott but he’s pretty sure him and Allison left 5 minutes after dropping him off.

“Oh, we’re here!” Stiles announces, turning towards him. “You remembered where I live?”

Derek feels his whole body turn red with embarrassment. “Uh-”

“It’s cool, I read online that serial killers have really good memories when it comes to stalking their victims.”

Derek rolls his eyes as Stiles jumps out of the car, stumbling a little.

“Do you-” 

“No I do not need to be walked to my door like a 5 year old.” Stiles says, straightening himself and laughing. “I swear, I’m fine. Thank you, though. For driving.”

“No problem.” Derek assures him. 

He waits until Stiles is safely in his house before driving away. It’s not until he’s pulling into his driveway that he notices Stiles’ coat still on the passenger's seat.

 

Derek wakes up the next morning with a groan. He didn’t even drink last night and he still feels exhausted. He can only imagine how Erica is feeling. Or Stiles. He rolls out of bed, brushes his teeth, and gets in his car. Stiles’ jacket is right where he left it. And no, he didn’t take it inside with him. He has  _ some  _ self control, thank you.

He’s the first one at the shop, unsurprisingly. But it doesn’t take long before Erica arrives, looking very unhappy to be there.

“Who the fuck isn’t closed the day after Christmas?” She grumbles.

Derek chuckles. “How are you feeling?”

“Ask me in a half hour when this Ibuprofen kicks in.”

 

A few hours later, the door chimes and Derek looks up. He actually gasps when he sees Stiles standing there. He looks worse than Erica.

“Oh thank God.” Erica groans in relief. 

Derek doesn’t even have time to look confused before Stiles is presenting two brown bags.

“I come bearing bagels.” Stiles announces.

“You are my most favorite human being on this planet.” Erica says, holding the bag of bagels to her chest. 

“Did Erica make you bring her bagels?” Derek asks.

“Yeah, she texted me this morning.”

Derek feels a weird flicker of jealousy at Erica having Stiles’ number before him.

“I brought some for you, too. As a thank you for driving me home last night. And not murdering me. Again.”

Derek chuckles. “I’m surprised to see you here so early, you were pretty wasted.”

“Oh God, I didn’t say anything embarrassing did I?”

“No, you mostly just complained about Jackson.”

“Jackass Whittemore.” Stiles laughs. “Anyway, I’m also here because I got you a present.”

Derek must look mortified because Stiles laughs and steps closer to the counter. “Don’t worry, I know you didn’t get me anything.” Stiles pulls something out of his backpack, badly wrapped in newspaper.

“It’s more of a thank you for saving my ass on several occasions than a Christmas present.” Stiles says with a shrug, handing it to him. It’s the first time Derek has ever seen him look unsure.

Derek unwraps the present carefully and breaks into a smile as soon as the newspaper falls away.

“It’s a magnet tool holder. It sticks to the car and then it comes with magnets that you attach to your tools so they stick to the car, too.” Stiles says quickly.

“Stiles, this is great!” Derek assures him. 

Stiles’ shoulders sag in relief. “Alright, cool. Can you share it with everyone so Erica doesn’t kill me for not getting her a present?”

“You brought her bagels.”

“Boyd, then.”

Derek smiles. “Fine, I will share my present with Boyd. I do have something for you, though.” Derek pauses dramatically before lifting up Stiles’ jacket from where it was hanging on a chair behind the counter.

“Thanks! I thought Lydia was lying when she said I left with it on.” Stiles throws the jacket on over his sweatshirt and Derek tries not to look fondly at him.

There’s an awkward silence before Stiles speaks. “Uh, so I should probably go. You might wanna go get a bagel before Erica eats them all.”

“Okay. Thanks again, Stiles.”

Stiles salutes him and is halfway to the door before Erica is calling after him.

“Stiles, wait!” 

“I don’t have any more bagels, Erica. There was a dozen in there, I really hope you didn’t eat them all.” 

Erica scowls at him. “Derek is forgetting to invite you to our annual Hale baseball game.”

Derek can feel his face starting to heat up. He mentioned inviting Stiles weeks ago, but he wasn’t actually going to do it. It was just to get Erica off his back.

“Oh, yeah!” Derek perks up. “It’s uh, this Friday.”

“As in 2 days from now?”

Derek nods. “Our cousins normally fly in for the holidays, but they didn’t this year so our team is short a few players, if you’re up for it.”

“I’m pretty terrible at baseball, but I love to play. I’m in.”

Derek’s smile widens. “Cool.”

“Here, I’ll give you my number and you can text me the details.” Stiles says, offering his phone. Derek hands him his in return and ignores the smirk he can  _ feel  _ on Erica’s face.

When they’ve both returned the others phones, Stiles finally leaves with a stolen bagel and a wave.

“Don’t even say it.” Derek warns, as soon as the door is closed.

“I wasn’t going to say anything!” Erica shouts, still smirking as always.

 

_ From Stiles: Allison is sick, but me, Danny, and Scott are in!  _ Stiles texts him later that night. Derek stares at the second name, wishing it away. He sighs and types a response before locking his phone and going to sleep.

_ To Stiles: Great! _

 

It’s pretty cold the day of the game, and Derek is bundled up, wearing his jersey over his coat. Everyone else is doing the same. Laura works too hard on making everyone’s jersey every year for her to let anyone wear them underneath their coats. 

Derek had had to text Stiles to get Scott and Danny’s sizes for their jerseys.

“Don’t be such a baby, Derek.” She had told him. She was never one for emotional sensitivity.

 

Stiles shows up with Scott and Danny in tow. They’re both bundled up, carrying a very large container of...something.

“I made soup.” Stiles announces.

“For the whole town?” Laura asks.

“Laura” Derek hisses.

“I wasn’t sure how many people would be here!”

“Thank you, Stiles.” Talia says reassuringly. “That was very nice of you.”

Stiles beams and directs Scott and Danny to the table to set the giant vat of soup down. 

Erica is the first to try it, because  _ of course  _ she is. Her eyes light up as soon as she sips some from her cup.

“Did you make this?!”

“Yeah.” Stiles answers, embarrassed.

“Oh my God, I could propose to you right now.” 

Boy clears his throat.

“Oh shut up.” Erica rolls her eyes. “Try this!” She says, thrusting her cup in Boyd’s face.

“Wow. Alright, I guess a proposal is the appropriate reaction.” Boyd confesses, laughing. “It’s really good.”

“Thanks, guys.” Stiles is smiling, his face red. 

“This is  _ way  _ better than the chocolate sludge Derek has made last three years.” Cora announces.

“It’s hot chocolate!” Derek says defensively.

“Yeah from a bag. And you never add enough water!”

“Whatever.” Derek huffs.

“I’m sure it’s great.” Stiles interjects. “Anyway, what’s the team situation?”

Derek is thankful for the change in topic. His family always complains about his hot chocolate, but nobody ever offers to make it instead. He shoots Stiles a thankful look, which he returns with waggle of his eyebrows.

“We do teams of 6.” Talia answers. “Myself, Laura, Erica, Boyd, Isaac, and Derek are on one team. Then there’s Stiles, Scott, Danny, Cora, and then Cora’s friends Danielle and Madeline.”

“Danielle and Maddy play softball, don’t worry.” Cora whispers to Stiles, who winks.

“Looks like we’re enemies.” Stiles says, turning to Derek. 

“You’re dead meat.” Derek replies, hoping Stiles gets the joke. He does, if his hysterical laughter is anything to go by.

“Wait,” Danny calls out. “Who’s announcing the game?”

“That’d be me,” Stiles doesn’t even have to turn to know who the voice belongs to.

“Oh God, please no.”

Derek laughs. “What? Do you get in trouble with the law often?”

“You have no idea.”

“Stiles? What are you doing here?” The Sheriff asks.

“What are  _ you  _ doing here?” Stiles says in response. “Don’t you have bad guys you could be catching right now?”

“I guess the bad guys took the holidays off.” He jokes. Stiles groans.

“So you thought you’d come embarrass your son in front of his new friends?”

“You’re the Sheriff’s son?” Derek asks him.

Stiles nods, with a dramatic frown on his face.

“Good to see you, Derek.” The Sheriff says, shaking his hand. “How’d you get involved with my son?”

Stiles and Derek’s faces both color at the choice of words.

“Do  _ you  _ get in trouble with the law often?” Stiles asks.

“Actually, your dad comes to me for an oil change every few months.”

Scott gasps from where he was standing a few feet away.

“Dad!” Stiles exclaims. “How could you?” He staggers backwards like he’s faking a heart attack.

“The last time I let Scott touch my car I ended up driving yours for a week.”

“Practice makes perfect!” Scott defends, pouting. 

The Sheriff shrugs and makes his way towards the press box. Stiles shoots a glare at Derek before turning towards everyone else.

“Team Stiles!” He yells. “Round up, let’s talk strategy. Team Hale is going  _ down. _ ”

“But I’m a Hale.” Cora whines. “And who made you team captain?” 

“Trust me,” Scott cuts in, “It’s easier this way.”

Cora rolls her eyes, but follows. 

Derek watches the exchange fondly, before being dragged to his own dugout.

“Come on, lover boy.” Laura teases.

 

Stiles’ team is up to bat first. 

Erica is pitching, Laura is catching, and yes Isaac  _ did  _ make the joke, which earned him a warning look from Boyd.

Boyd plays third and helps Derek in the outfield. Isaac plays third, and Talia plays first. 

Danny bats first and Derek is only a little happy when Erica strikes him out. Danielle hits a double, Stiles strikes out - which Derek totally doesn’t give Erica a dirty look for, and Scott strikes out.

“This is gonna be a short game.” Derek teases while they switch positions. 

“We’re only playing 3 innings, so.” Stiles retorts.

Derek laughs and makes his way to the dugout.

“You are so fucked.” Boyd whispers to him, before jogging to bat first.

Stiles is so far out in the outfield Derek can barely see him. Scott’s pitching, Cora is catching, and Derek will kill anyone who makes  _ that  _ joke. Maddy is on first, Danny is on second, and Danielle is on third. 

Boyd hits a home run, of course. Derek can see Stiles’ scowl from across the field. Derek strikes out and Stiles gives a loud whooping noise. Isaac hits a single, Talia strikes out, and Laura hits the ball, but Maddy catches it.

“Why do I get the feeling these teams are wildly uneven?” Stiles asks him, out of breath. 

Derek just shrugs and smiles as he makes his way to the field.

 

The game does go by pretty quickly. Stiles, Maddy, and Danny all manage to get a run in. But it doesn’t matter because so does Laura, Isaac, and Derek. And Boyd hit another home run.

“Next year, I’m making the teams.” Stiles announces.

Talia laughs and Derek feels warm at the thought of Stiles still being around next year.

 

Everybody clears out pretty quickly due to the cold and Derek doesn’t get a chance to say bye to Stiles. He does, however, receive a picture an hour later of Stiles holding a baseball trophy dated 5 years prior and sticking his tongue out.

_ To Stiles: Sore loser. _

_ From Stiles: Next year you’re toast. _

Derek laughs and send a picture of the bread emoji. 

 

He doesn’t hear from Stiles until a few days later.

_ From Stiles: Lydia is having a meltdown and said that shes not hosting a NYE party this year. PLS tell me u have plans? _

Derek’s heart beats nervously in his chest.

_ To Stiles: I think we were going to hit the Gala. _

_ From Stiles: why didn’t I think of that?????? thank u!!!!!! _

 

He gets a text less than a minute later.

_ From Erica: Did you ask stiles to the gala??? _

_ To Erica: No. _

_ From Erica: R u going to????????? _

Derek reads the message and locks his phone. He’s never asked anyone to the Gala, nor has he ever been asked. It’s just a town party to ring in the new year. You don’t bring dates to it.

 

Do you?

 

_ From Erica: Me and boyd are going tg _

Shit.

 

“If Boyd can ask me, you can ask Stiles.” Erica tells him the next day.

“That’s different.”

Erica rolls her eyes, but she drops it.

 

A few hours later, the phone rings at the shop.

“Hello?” Derek answers.

“Are you asking Stiles to the Gala?”

“What? Who is this?” Derek’s pulse quickens.

“Scott.”

Derek is silent.

“Well? Are you?”

“Wouldn’t he be going with Danny?”

“Maybe if we were ringing in 2012.”

“Are they not-”

“Dating?” Scott is laughing. “Oh my God, just wait until I tell Stiles.”

“No!” Derek shouts into the phone. “Don’t, uh, don’t tell Stiles anything.”

“Alright, big guy. I won’t say anything just as long as you ask Stiles to the Gala.” Before Derek can respond, Scott hangs up.

Derek groans. On the bright side, Stiles isn’t dating Danny. Shit.

 

Less than an hour later, the bell above the door chimes. Of course it’s Stiles standing there, because the universe hates him.

“Hey.” Stiles greets him, his face flushed from the cold.

Derek nods, still too stunned to say anything.

“Is Isaac here?” He asks, and Derek deflates a little bit.

“Yeah, he’s in the back. I’ll go grab him.”

“Cool, uh, it’s just soup, actually. Can I leave it with you? I gotta run and bring my dad lunch.”

“Oh,” Shit. Derek’s gonna have to ask him now, then. “Yeah, sure. I’ll take it.”

“Thanks, dude!” Stiles smiles, turning to leave.

“Are you going to the Gala?” Derek practically yells it at him.

“Yeah, didn’t I text ya?”

“Oh, yeah.” Derek laughs nervously. “I meant like-”

“Is that my soup?” Isaac suddenly bursts into the room.

“Sure is, buddy.” Stiles tells him with a smile. “Should still be warm, too.”

“You’re the best.”

“Don’t let Cora hear you say that.” Stiles jokes.

Isaac freezes as Derek whips his head around.

“Cora?!” He yells.

“Whoops.” Stiles says apologetically. “I’ll see you guys later!” And then he’s gone.

“I swear it’s not what you think!” Isaac shouts, his hands up in a surrender. “She told Stiles she had a crush on me and he told me at the baseball game. Dude, I swear.”

“Don’t call me dude.” Is Derek’s only response.

“Stiles calls you dude all the time.”

Derek literally growls and Isaac retreats back into the rest of the shop.

When Derek turns, Stiles is long gone.

Shit.

 

_ From Stiles: scott just asked allison to the gala like he was asking her to prom. _

_ From Stiles: im going to vomit :) _

Derek reads the messages five times. He should just ask him. Would Stiles care if it was over text? Does Stiles even want to go with him?

“This is fucking stupid.” Derek mumbles to himself, and locks his phone.

 

_ From Erica: Danny asked a boy named ethan to the gala _

_ To Erica: How do you even know that? _

_ From Erica: Just ask him!!!!!!!!!! _

Derek shuts his phone off. 

 

It’s the day of the Gala and Derek has still not asked Stiles to be his date. He’s stopped answering the phone as the shop because it’s almost always Scott. He gave Erica the day off so that she wouldn’t come in and bug him about it. It didn’t stop her from texting him, though.

 

Derek closes the shop early and heads home to get ready. He’s so nervous he can barely tie his tie and he’s not even technically going with Stiles. He can only imagine what a mess he’d be if he had actually asked him. 

Erica and Boyd meet him at his place and they drive to the high school together.

 

The first year Beacon Hills threw the New Year’s Eve Gala, there were approximately 10 people in the Beacon Hills High School gym. Apparently, nobody wanted to ring in the new year in a high school gym. Who knew. The next year, they stepped it up and had a live band instead of playing the radio. 

Derek and his family didn’t go until several years later, and it’ come a long way since then, too. 

They stream Dick Clarke’s New Year’s show and project it on one of the gym walls. There’s food, drinks, music, and raffles. There’s even a classroom designated for any children who fall asleep before the ball drops. They set off fireworks on the lacrosse field and almost all of Beacon Hills shows up.

Especially this year, with Lydia not hosting anything.

 

They arrive and Derek immediately spots Scott. Well, really, he spots Allison, who’s dress is all metallic and reflecting the lights in shades of gold and silver. Scott and Stiles are both wearing regular black tuxes, but Stiles is still the most beautiful thing Derek has ever seen.

“Wow, is that Allison? She looks great!” Erica exclaims.

“Yeah.” Derek agrees, but he’s only looking at Stiles.

 

They park and make their way over to where Laura, Cora, and Isaac have joined the rest of them. Everyone is chatting animatedly with each other while Derek picks at the hem of his suit jacket. Lydia and Jackson arrive, looking like the true power couple of Beacon Hills.

“Should we head inside?” Erica asks.

“Yeah, we’re just waiting on Danny, I think.” Stiles replies.

Derek’s heart speeds up. Did Danny’s date bail? Is he going with Stiles now? Why didn’t Derek just fucking as him to the Gala?

“Apparently Ethan takes forever to get ready.” Stiles adds, giving Derek a knowing look.

Shit.

 

Thankfully, they only have to wait another minute or two before Danny and Ethan arrive, both wearing black suits. However, Danny is wearing a bright blue undershirt with a black tie and Ethan is wearing a white undershirt with the same color blue tie. They look very coordinated and very much together. Derek smiles at them. 

“Alright let’s do this thing.” Isaac cheers, linking one arm with Cora and one arm with Laura. Before Derek can scold him, Stiles is beside him.

“How much fun is it gonna be in there?” Stiles asks.

“Probably not as fun as Lydia’s would have been.” Erica interjects, earning her a scowl from the strawberry blonde. 

“Good thing I brought this, then.” Stiles says, revealing a flask on the inner pocket of his suit jacket.

“Stiles, there's going to be alcohol in there.” Derek informs him with an eye roll. 

“This is for when they try to cut me off.” He says, waggling his eyebrows. 

They walk in together, and Derek tries not to dwell on the fact that Stiles’ arm keeps brushing up against him. He also tries not to dwell on the fact that they're the only two ones there without dates. 

Does that make them dates by default? 

And then Derek is struck with the horrific realization that dates generally kiss each other at midnight. The thought makes Derek stumble slightly and Stiles reaches an arm out to steady him. 

“Are you drunk already?” Stiles jokes. 

Derek shakes his head and is thankful for the loud music already blasting from the gym. Otherwise Stiles would definitely be able to hear how hard his heart is beating. 

He checks the time on the clock hanging in the gym. It's 9:15. Derek has less than 3 hours to figure out what the fuck he's going to do at midnight. 

_ I’m so fucked.  _ He thinks to himself, and makes a beeline for the bar set up on the far side of the gym. 

 

He's joined by Jackson, Allison, and Stiles shortly after. 

“This guy's got the right idea.” Stiles laughs, nudging Derek with his elbow. 

Derek chuckles nervously and downs his drink before serving himself some more punch. 

Derek follows Jackson back to the rest of the group. There are tables set up all around the walls of the gym and their group takes up two of them. Derek places his drink at an empty seat and Stiles claims the chair next to him. 

“I’m going to get some food, do you want anything?” Stiles asks him. 

Derek's heart hasn't stopped beating furiously since they got here. Maybe food would help, or at least speed up his heart attack. 

“Just get me half of whatever you're getting.”

“Your New Year’s resolution should be to keep up with me.” Stiles says with a wink. And then he's heading to the buffet table. 

Derek can feel his face heat up and looks around to see if anyone noticed. Scott is staring at him, smiling. Erica is smirking as always. And everyone else is doing a slightly better job at pretending they weren't eavesdropping. Derek's face gets redder. 

 

After everyone's had their fair share of food, some more than others, (Stiles went back to the buffet table 3 times.) Erica announces that she's going to dance. She gives Derek a pointed look as she drags Boyd to the dance floor. Allison and Scott follow soon after, with Lydia and Jackson not far behind them. Isaac gives Derek a terrified look when Cora asks him to dance. Derek nods subtly. He has his own problems to worry about. Soon enough, the only people left at the table are him, Stiles, Laura, and Ethan. But once Danny returns from the bathroom, him and Ethan are gone, too. 

“Well, I’m going to go see if I can snag a nice single business man before midnight.” Laura says, excusing herself from the table, but not before glaring at Derek. 

Stiles is blissfully unaware as he continues to polish off his plate of macaroni and cheese. Derek glares back at his sister, but it's nowhere near as threatening. 

Derek checks the clock. It's 11:42. 

Shit.

“Do you wanna go dance?” Stiles asks, his mouth still full. 

“I’m, uh, not much of a dancer.” Derek answers, shrugging. Just then, the song changes to a slow song. Derek recognizes it from somewhere, but he can't quite place it. 

“What about now?” Stiles asks again, standing. 

Derek nods, smiling nervously. “Yeah, alright.” 

Stiles extends his hand and Derek takes it. His hand tingles as Stiles tightens his hold and leads them to the dance floor. He leads them a few feet away from the rest of their friends and Derek is thankful. He does, however, hear a soft whistle coming from their general direction. He can only guess it came from Erica. 

They find a spot and Stiles turns to face him. Derek never noticed how close in height they are. Stiles is only a few inches shorter than him. He always imagined Stiles as so much shorter than him. Not that Derek has imagined them in this situation. Nevermind. Anyway. 

Stiles brings his arms up and around Derek’s shoulders, loosely locking his hands behind Derek’s head. Derek places his hands softly on Stiles’s hips and hopes it’s not too noticeable how badly his hands are shaking. They sway together, their feet shuffling more so than moving them anywhere. 

Derek laughs to himself.

“What?” Stiles asks softly, looking up at him.

“This was my parent's’ wedding song.” Derek whispers.

“Mine, too!” Stiles says, a bit too loud for the moment. He laughs, embarrassed.

Derek tightens his hands in reassurance.

“We should carry on the tradition.” 

Derek must give him a funny look because then Stiles is backtracking.

“I mean, like, the two of us. Like, on our wedding days. Our respective wedding days. We should, uh, keep the song going.”

“Right, yeah.” Derek agrees, mentally kicking himself.

“I can’t remember the title.”

“It’s called “Crush.”

“Dave Matthews Band, right?”

Derek nods. They dance in silence for a moment before Stiles breaks it.

“Are your parents…” He trails off.

“They’re still together.” Derek says. “My dad just works a lot. He’s been in New York for 3 months. He was supposed to be back for Christmas, but now he’s saying it’ll be closer to February.”

Stiles gives him a sympathetic look. “My, uh. My mom passed away a few years ago.”

Derek pulls him closer on instinct. “I’m sorry.”

“Thanks.” Stiles whispers, resting his forehead on Derek’s shoulder. Derek angles his head slightly so that is brushes against Stiles’. 

 

The song ends and they come to a stop, waiting to see what will play next. Instead, a man Derek vaguely recognizes as the mayor stands in front of the DJ booth, microphone in hand. 

“It’s about 5 minutes to midnight.” He announces. Derek’s heart rate picks back up. “So find your special someone and head to the center of the gym.”

Derek looks at Stiles who’s already looking at him expectantly.

“Do you-” Derek starts.

Stiles cuts him off with a laugh and then he’s dragging him towards where their friends are starting to convene. There’s no way Stiles can’t feel the way his pulse is beating from where he’s holding Derek’s wrist. 

They step into a spot right beside Scott and Allison, who are already kissing. 

“I’ll be right back.” Stiles promises. Derek panics for a second until he notices Jackson and Boyd following Stiles to the table of champagne glasses. True to his word, Stiles is back within seconds, handing a class to Derek.

Stiles’ smile is blinding and from the way his cheeks hurt, Derek can only guess he looks the same. Soon enough, they’re counting down from 10. Derek is focusing so hard on remembering to breath he almost doesn’t notice that Stiles kisses him at 3. Almost.

He smiles into the kiss and Stiles sighs. Derek wraps his arms around Stiles’ waist, and Stiles snakes his arms around Derek’s shoulders. It’s similar to their dancing position, save for the fact that they’re closer, and Stiles’s hands are running through Derek’s hair. 

And they’re, you know, kissing. 

The music starts back up again, but neither of them pull away. That is, until Scott is clearing his throat next to them. 

“Go away, Scott.” Stiles mumbles, pulling away just enough that his lips still brush against Derek’s.

“There are  _ children. _ ” Scott teases.

“That didn’t stop you and Allison 2 minutes ago.” Erica interjects. Derek smiles.

Scott scoffs and walks away. “You two are disgusting.” He calls out behind him.

Stiles laughs and dives back in for another kiss.

“Do you want to-” Derek starts to ask.

“No,” Stiles interrupts him, pecking him once on the lips. “I want to give Scott a little taste of his own medicine.”

Derek chuckles, but let’s Stiles kiss him again. If it was up to Derek, he would never stop kissing Stiles. However, he does start to feel a bit silly when the music picks up and they’re both still standing there kissing. 

It’s Derek who pulls away this time, just far enough that he can see Stiles’ eyes. They’re shining, his pupils huge. Derek can’t possibly look much better.

“I bet we could find an empty classroom.” Stiles suggests, wiggling his eyebrows.

Derek lets out a surprised laugh and rolls his eyes. “How romantic.”

“Almost as romantic as you not asking me to be your date.”

Derek blushes and hides his face in his hands. “I thofh you bergoin t’Danny.” He mumbles through his hands.

“What?” Stiles laughs, gently grabbing Derek’s wrists and bringing them away from his face.

“I thought you were going with Danny.” Derek mumbles again, clearer this time.

“I know.” Stiles laughs again. “Scott told me.”

“He said he wouldn’t!” Derek groans.

“I believe the deal was he wouldn’t tell me if you asked me. Which you didn’t.” Stiles is smirking at him.

 

They make their way outside for the fireworks and find a spot next to Cora and Isaac on the grass. Isaac tenses when he sees Derek and Cora rolls her eyes.

“Derek, please tell Isaac you’re not going to kill him for holding my hand.”

Derek doesn’t answer.

“See?!” Isaac whispers, crossing his arms and tucking his hands in his armpits.

Cora rolls her eyes again. “Derek!”

“Fine.” Derek growls. “You can hold hands. But don’t even think about kissing.”

“You and Stiles were kissing.” 

Derek felt his face heat up. “That’s different.”

But before Cora could argue and let him know that it actually wasn’t different, the fireworks started. 

Stiles intertwined his fingers with Derek’s and squeezed. Derek squeezed back. He dared to sneak a peek at Derek and couldn’t help but smile that Derek was already looking at him.

“You’re missing the fireworks.” Derek says, barely audible over the exploding lights above them.

Stiles laughs and looks back up at the sky. “So are you.”

  
_ I was looking at something even more beautiful.  _ He thinks to himself. He had no idea Derek, but was thinking the same thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comments and kudos always welcome :)


	3. Winter (continued)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still don't technically have a beta, but Amarra has offered to point out any horrible mistakes. Threw in some fun Valentine's Day and St Patty's Day cliche's for ya! Enjoy :)
> 
> Also I updated this from having 4 chapters to 6! (The last chapter will be a short little epilogue)

_ I got it one piece at a time _

_ And it didn't cost me a dime _

_ You'll know it's me when I come through your town _

_ I'm gonna ride around in style _

_ I'm gonna drive everybody wild _

_ 'Cause I'll have the only one there is around. _

 

After that, everything just kind of falls into place, and Derek couldn’t think of a better way to start off the new year than by getting to know Stiles. And getting to kiss him.

They kiss  _ a lot  _ in the final week before Stiles has to go back to school. Stiles almost always initiates it. Just launches himself on Derek while they’re watching a movie, or making dinner together, or while Derek is working. Erica complains about the latter but it’s probably because she’s jealous that Boyd isn’t kissing her as much as Stiles is kissing Derek. 

That’s what Stiles says, anyway.

 

Scott is extremely unsympathetic about Stiles having to leave his significant other while Scott gets to go back to school with his.

“Maybe if you actually let Allison spend a holiday with her family, you’d understand my emotional turmoil.” Stiles says grumpily, settling himself into the backseat of Scott’s car. He blows one more kiss to Derek as Scott pulls away and then closes his eyes for a nap. 

  
  


It’s the first day of February, Derek is grocery shopping, and everything is pink. His eyes widen in horror as he realizes that it’s almost Valentine’s Day. Are him and Stiles going to celebrate? Did Stiles get him something? What should he get for Stiles? What if he gets Stiles something and he hates it? What if Stiles doesn’t even come home for the weekend?

“Oh God.” Derek groans, making his way down the first aisle. He forgets three things on his shopping list.

 

“I think me and Boyd are just going to see a movie or something.” Erica asks, unhelpfully.

“That doesn’t help me.” Derek huffs. “This is yours and Boyd’s third Valentine’s Day together. This is my first one with Stiles, it has to be better than movie date. We do movie dates all the time.”

“There’s nothing wrong with movie dates.” Boyd states defensively.

Derek rolls his eyes.

 

Scott proves to be equally as unhelpful.

“Allison and I are gonna cook dinner together and then we’re gonna bake cookies with her parents.” 

“You guys are disgusting.”

“Stiles said the same thing.” Scott says with a laugh. 

Derek freezes. “Stiles was asking you about Valentine’s Day?”

“Yeah, so why don’t you two plan something together to avoid another Gala fiasco.”

Derek reddens. Scott still hasn’t let it go. He thinks it’s hilarious. Derek thinks he sucks.

 

_ To Stiles: Do you have plans two Saturdays from now? _

_ From Stiles: Ya, i think im hanging out with my boyfriend :/ sorry!!! _

Derek chuckles. He stares at the word “boyfriend” and is glad Erica isn’t around to see his smile. She always likes to take his phone when she catches him smiling at it. 

The boyfriend thing started two days after New Year’s. They were grocery shopping and the cashier was flirting with Derek. Naturally, Derek had no idea. The cashier had said something about Derek’s biceps and Stiles interrupted her with a very aggressive “My boyfriend is quite strong, isn’t he?” The girl had blushed and Derek looked like his eyes were going to pop out of his head, but he didn’t say anything. 

_ To Stiles: Smartass. _

_ From Stiles: I already have something planned so dont do anything crazy _

Derek sighed in relief.

_ To Stiles: No presents, then? _

Derek’s phone rang a moment later, Stiles’ name popping up on the screen. 

“Hello?”

“You better be getting me a present, mister.” Derek chuckles at Stiles’ attempt to sound menacing.

“I wouldn’t want to ruin whatever you have planned.”

Stiles sighs dramatically.

“I’ll think about it.” Derek jokes.

“You’re the worst, bye.” Stiles mumbles into the phone, making a loud kissing sound before hanging up.

Derek smiles at his phone fondly.

  
  


It’s the day before Valentine’s Day and Derek is  _ not  _ freaking out. He’s cleaned every inch of his apartment and the shop, but he is not freaking out. 

_ Stiles has been here a thousand times.  _ Derek tries to reason with himself. He’s just about to open a bottle of wine to calm his nerves when someone knocks.

“Erica, if that’s you, I swear to-”

“Surprise!” Stiles yells, before Derek can get the door fully open. He throws himself into Derek’s arms and leans up for a kiss. “Are you drinking wine?”

“I was about to.” Derek laughs.

“Oh my God.” Stiles is holding back a smirk now. “You were totally freaking out.”

“I was not freaking out, Stiles.”

“Good, did you like my surprise?”

“I loved it.” Derek confesses, and freezes. Stiles doesn’t notice, though,  because he’s too busy settling into the couch.

 

About an hour into watching TV, Stiles’ stomach growls.

“Shit,” Derek sits up. “I don’t have anything planned for dinner.”

Stiles can’t help but laugh at the horrified look on Derek’s face. “Relax your eyebrows, just order a pizza or something.”

“Pizza isn’t romantic.”

“Good thing Valentine’s Day is tomorrow, then.”

Derek rolls his eyes.

 

Two pizza’s and half a bottle of wine later, Stiles says goodnight and heads home. Derek almost asks him to stay, but chickens out. Of course. Not even the slight buzz from the wine could give him a pair of balls.

“Text me when you close the shop tomorrow and I’ll let you know where to go.” Stiles says on his way out.

“You’re really not going to tell me what you planned?”

Stiles ignores Derek’s question in favor of a wink, and shuts the door behind him. Derek sighs and finishes the bottle of wine. 

 

Derek wakes up on Valentine’s Day alone, slightly hungover, and entirely too early. He also wakes up to a text.

_ From Stiles: See u latr!!!!!  _

There’s also at least a dozen kissy face emojis. Derek smiles to himself and gets ready for work, already in a better mood. He tucks Stiles’ present under his arm and prays he doesn’t walk into the shop to see Erica and Boyd making out on the counter.

 

He does. Of course.

 

“You guys are gross.” Derek says, his grumpy mood returning. 

“Don’t be jealous,” Erica laughs, jumping down from the counter. “You’ll be kissing Stiles’ face off soon enough.”

Derek rolls his eyes. Erica doesn’t need to know that that’s the only thing getting him through his shift today.

What feels like an eternity, but is actually only 6 hours later, Derek is finally leaving the shop.

_ To Stiles: Leaving now, where am I going? _

Stiles sends him his location and Derek stupidly doesn’t realize where he’s going until he’s pulling up to Hale Lumber & Co.

Stiles is standing there all bundled up, waving enthusiastically.

“What took you so long?” Stiles asks in mock annoyance, leaning in for a kiss. “I thought I was gonna freeze to death.”

“Are you going to tell me what you have planned now?”

“Duh,” Stiles laughs. “We’re camping!”

“I think we need the wilderness for that.” Derek jokes.

Stiles rolls his eyes affectionately and drags Derek to the tent he has set up. Inside, there are two portable heaters, several blankets and pillows, snacks, and Stiles’s laptop with a movie queued up.

“I’m afraid to ask what movie we’re watching.” Derek says, settling himself under the blankets. It’s surprisingly warm inside the tent, despite the near-freezing temperatures outside. 

“Valentine’s Day, duh.” Stiles laughs. “But first, presents.”

“I didn’t get you anything.” Derek deadpans. He can only keep a straight face for a few seconds before Stiles’ pout makes him crack a smile. “Alright, alright. Spoiled brat, here you go.”

Stiles beams and reaches for the present Derek produced from inside his jacket. He rips the wrapping paper off quickly to reveal the new and very expensive set of kitchen knives.

“Knives, how very serial killer-esque of you.” Stiles laughs. “They’re gorgeous, thank you.”

Stiles hands Derek a small rectangular box and Derek opens it to find a very fancy looking pen. Before he can say thank you, Stiles is talking excitedly.

“I swear it’s not just a pen, If you push the button the end lights up and it’s a really strong flashlight and I also got it engraved so that Erica and Boyd can’t steal it. I mean, it just says my name so Erica might still try to steal it, but then at least you’ll know it’s yours. I’m-” Stiles stops suddenly and takes a deep breath. “I’m yours.” He finishes quietly. 

Derek feels his face heat up at Stiles’ confession and leans in to kiss him before he can say anything else. “It’s great, I love it.”  _ I love you.  _ Is what he almost says.

Stiles beams one more time before reaching for the laptop and plastering himself to Derek’s side. He rests his head on Derek’s chest and hits play.

Somehow, they both make it halfway through the movie before Stiles ends up straddling Derek’s lap and connecting their mouths. The tent feels unbearably hot as Derek tries not to focus on how he can feel Stiles hardening in his jeans. He pulls away slightly to ask Stiles what he wants, but Stiles chases his mouth with his own. Derek is dangerously close to bucking up his hips to meet with Stiles’s grinding when a particularly hard gust of wind blows. Stiles laughs softly, but it turns into a burp, and then they’re both laughing hysterically, all sexual tension gone. Stiles settles back into Derek’s side and falls asleep quickly after. 

“Happy Valentine’s Day.” Derek whispers, pressing a kiss to the top of Stiles’ head.

They wake up the next morning, and it takes them a good 5 minutes to untangle themselves from each other and the mess of blankets. By then, Derek’s awkward morning boner has gone down and he can kiss Stiles properly.

“I have to go help my dad at the station.” Stiles says after a while. “Laura said I could leave the tent here til later.”

“Good, cause I’m going to nap right here.” 

Stiles smiles and gives Derek a quick peck, and then he’s gone. 

 

“We were baking cookies and then she told me that she loved me and I didn’t know what to say so I shoved a cookie in my mouth and it was  _ so  _ hot and my eyes started watering and she thought I was crying so she was trying to comfort me and telling me it was okay if I didn’t feel the same way so I spit the cookie out and kissed her.”

“How romantic.” Stiles says sarcastically, earning a punch in the arm from Scott.

“It  _ was  _ romantic.” Scott says proudly. “What about you? How was seeing Derek?”

“It was good.”

“How good?” Scott asks suggestively.

“Just because you and Allison feel the need to get it on everywhere doesn’t mean-”

“Alright, alright. Sorry I asked.” Scott puts his hand up in mock surrender before jumping into  _ another  _ story about something Allison said the night before.

Stiles’ phone buzzes and he checks it, hoping to see a text from Derek.

_ From Erica: How was last night? _

Stiles rolls his eyes at the very accusatory smirking emoji that follows the text.

_ To Erica: It was great, bye!!! _

_ From Erica: Derek won’t give me any details either, u guys are weird. _

Stiles locks his phone and pretends to be interested in Scott’s obsession with Allison’s eye freckle. Seriously.

 

_ To Derek: Dad wants you to come over for dinner _

Derek has been staring at the message from Stiles for 5 minutes when another one comes in.

_ To Derek: Stop freaking out!!! _

“I’m not freaking out.” Derek mumbles to himself. 

_ From Derek: I’m not freaking out. When’s dinner? _

_ To Derek: Tonight? _

Derek checks the clock before typing a response.

_ From Derek: See you at 6. _

That gives him four hours to get it together. Not that there’s anything to get together. Because Derek is not freaking out. 

 

When Derek knocks on the door, his heart is beating quicker than ever; despite the ten minute breathing exercise he did in his car. He’s not freaking out. It’s normal to be a little nervous before having dinner with your boyfriend’s dad. Even if you’ve known said boyfriend’s dad for years. This is all very normal and Derek is not freaking out.

Stiles opens the door with a blinding smile, and then Derek is  _ actually  _ not freaking out. Because Stiles talks entirely too much for there to be any awkward silences, and he keeps a reassuring hand on Derek’s knee all the way through dinner.

Stiles made dinner for the three of them, making a point to use the knives Derek got him. He fried chicken cutlets to make chicken parmesan, made a huge salad with lots of vegetables, and even a small bit of spaghetti. 

“So, Derek.” The Sheriff starts, after finishing the giant pile of salad Stiles served him.

“Daaaaad.” Stiles whines.

The Sheriff rolls his eyes. “Derek,” He says again. “What are your intentions with my son?”

“Seriously?” Stiles whines again.

“I, uh-” Derek starts. “I’m, we’re dating.”

Stiles snorts. “Very eloquent.”

“Shut up, Stiles.” Derek and the Sheriff say at the same time. Derek smirks.

“Our first dinner together and you’re already ganging up on me.”

“Listen, sir-” Derek tries again.

“Call me John, Derek. The same way you do at the shop.”

“Right.” Derek mentally punches himself in the face. He’s been on a first name basis with Sheriff John Stilinski for years. “Well, uh, me and Stiles are dating. Obviously. And I would like to keep dating him because even though he is extremely annoying, I do like him quite a bit.”

Stiles’ smile is blinding and Derek can’t help but stare at him fondly.

“Well, as long as you can tolerate him, you’re welcomed to keep on dating him.”

“Hey-” Stiles tries to interrupt.

“Thank you.” Derek says.

“This was dumb.” Stiles huffs, crossing his arms. “I’m not annoying, I am a gift to the people of this Earth.”

“The best gift.” Derek teases affectionately. 

They continue to eat dinner between comfortable conversations. 

 

After dinner, Stiles cuddles up to Derek on the couch in the living room while John sits in his armchair. They settle on a movie about snowboarding and rich people. Ed Westwick is in it, so Stiles doesn’t complain. Around the same time John clears his throat, Derek realizes Stiles is asleep, head in Derek’s lap. He looks over at John, who’s already looking at him. Derek doesn’t say anything at first.

“I-” Derek starts.

“Don’t worry, Derek.” John says, voice calm. “I’m not about to threaten you.”

Derek sighs in relief. “Alright.”

“I just want to make sure you’re serious about my son.”

“I’m pretty serious, yeah.” Derek assures him. 

“Good. Because he’s pretty serious about you, too.”

Derek’s heart stutters and he looks down at Stiles’ sleeping form. There’s a small smile on his face that makes him think Stiles is no longer sleeping.

“Even though he’s annoying, and nerdy, and sometimes smells pretty bad-”

“I do not!” Stiles says, giving himself away and sitting up.

Derek shares a knowing look with John before they both chuckle. “Subtle, Stiles.”

Stiles huffs, but settles back down onto Derek’s lap. “I’m going back to sleep so you two will start saying nice stuff about me again.”

“I think we’ve said all we could, honestly.” Derek teases, earning himself a playful slap on the arm. “I should get going, though.”

Stiles huffs again and sits up so Derek can stand. “I’ll walk you out.”

 

“Dinner was good.” Derek says once he’s gotten his coat on. 

Stiles smiles sleepily. “Thanks. You were good, too.”

Derek laughs and presses a kiss to the younger boys forehead. “Goodnight, Stiles.”

“Night.” Stiles says through a yawn. He doesn’t close the door until Derek’s car disappears around the corner.

  
  


“I’m not saying we should each get our own rooms, I’m just saying it would probably be better for everyone if we did.” Erica says with a smirk. 

“I think it’s a little excessive to get six rooms in a hotel when we can just share.” Derek counters.

“But there’s six couples.”

“Which is why we only need three rooms. It’s less expensive and you can keep it in your pants for one weekend.”

“Derek, maybe-” Stiles tries to interrupt.

“Derek is right.” Isaac agrees. 

“I plan on being too drunk to get my pants off anyway.” Danny chimes in, earning a look from his now-official boyfriend, Ethan. 

“It’s St. Patrick’s Day. Who needs to get laid on St. Patrick’s Day?” Lydia says with an eye roll.

“Well-” Scott starts.

“Lydia’s right.” Allison cuts him off. “We can all spend a weekend together without anyone being sexiled.”

“Alright. So three rooms.” Derek confirms, completing the reservation on his laptop. 

“I guess it’ll be fun either way.” Erica mumbles.

Everyone nods their head in agreement, but Stiles, Scott, and Jackson look the least convinced.

“I’m sharing with Scott.” Stiles announces, which leads everybody into another argument.

 

They leave early Friday morning and head to Dublin, CA for the St. Patrick’s Day Irish Festival. Derek drives himself, Stiles, Scott, and Allison, along with their luggage. And Erica’s bag of shoes. Ethan drives with Danny, Lydia, and Jackson. And Erica’s suitcase full of clothes. Boyd drives with Erica, Isaac, and Cora. And Erica’s  _ other  _ suitcase full of clothes.

It’s a 5 hour drive. They all agree to only stop once for breakfast at a McDonald’s drive-thru. Derek suggests actually sitting down at a diner to eat, which earns him a horrified look from Erica.

“We need to start drinking, Derek. It’s already 9am!”

Derek rolls his eyes, but pulls into McDonald’s anyway.

They make it to the hotel and are all checked-in by 11am. Isaac wants to nap and Stiles  _ almost  _ agrees with him. But then Allison hands him a shot of tequila and he’s ready to go. 

 

“The parade starts in 15 minutes. Drink up, Derek.” Stiles slurs, trying to clink his shot glass against Derek’s, but missing entirely.

“Maybe I should take yours, too.”

“Don’t try and come between me and tequila, babe.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” Derek says before downing his drink.

 

They’re 20 minutes late to the parade, mainly because Isaac couldn’t find his shamrock headband...that he was wearing. They only miss the bagpipes, which Boyd assures them is a good thing. They fill up on food from the street vendors, and drink green beer until everyone’s mouths are dyed green. Probably permanently. 

Stiles wondered if his mouth could turn Derek’s skin green if he kissed it enough. So he very subtly attached his mouth to Derek’s neck. Derek, of course, didn’t mind. Until Erica pointed out that it very much looked like he got a hickey from a leprechaun.

At first, Lydia made it her mission to put a tally on everyone’s arm for each drink they had. But after  _ her _ 5th tally, she gave up. Derek doesn’t mind, though. He’d rather not know. He’s going to be  _ so  _ hungover tomorrow anyway. 

 

“There’s an overnight bar crawl that starts at midnight.” Erica says excitedly. Boyd groans. 

“Let’s go back to the hotel and get dinner first. Then we’ll see who’s up for it.” Derek suggests, his words slurring slightly. 

“Great idea!” Scott agrees a little too loudly. 

They all somehow make it back to the hotel in once piece, with everyone piling into one room. Stiles, Scott, Allison, and Derek squeeze into one bed. Lydia, Jackson, Danny, and Ethan in the other. Erica and Boyd grab the couch, and Isaac and Cora lay on the floor. Derek eyes them once before he falls asleep. 

“Why did we get three rooms?” Allison mumbles.

“Shut up.” Jackson yells from the other side of the room.

Derek’s only vaguely aware of Stiles burrowing into his chest before he’s unconscious. 

Nobody set an alarm,  _ of course,  _ so Lydia is the first one to wake up at 9pm. She wakes up Isaac and Cora first so they can untangle themselves before Derek sees them. Then she wakes up everyone else by flipping on the lights. 

“Wake up, I’m ordering pizza and then we’re doing the bar crawl.”

Everyone groans, but once Erica is up, nobody wants to face her slightly-hungover wrath. They eat pizza, and Derek feels a little less closer to death afterwards. Stiles kisses him in between bites and that helps, too. Out of everyone, Stiles is probably still the drunkest. Derek briefly debated cutting his pizza up for him after watching Stiles try for 2 minutes to get the tip of his pizza in his mouth. Scott and Allison went down to the front desk to see if there were any specials for the bar crawl. They come back with 6 wristbands. 

“They only had 6 left, but all the wristbands get you is a ride to the first bar.” Scott explains. “But the last bar is closer to the hotel. So I was thinking that six of us could take the wristbands and go to the first bar, and then the rest of us can start at the last bar and we can meet in the middle.”

“Alright.” Erica says. “Scott, Allison, Stiles, Jackson, Lydia, and I will take the wristbands. We’ll take the shuttle to The Shamrock Hotel.”

“Why wouldn’t-” Boyd tries to interrupt.

“Everyone else can start at Larry’s pub and meet us in the middle.” She finishes, shooting Boyd a glare. Stiles pouts but doesn’t argue. Neither does Derek. Or anyone else.

“Where is the middle?” Jackson asks eventually. 

“It’ll probably be either the Tropicana or that casino with the inflatable leprechaun out front.” Allison answers, squinting at the tiny map of the bar crawl route.

 

“Are you going to tell me why you forced me and Derek to split up?” Stiles asks. Erica is impressed that it took him until the second bar to ask. 

“Yes.”

Stiles glares at her.

“Okay, okay. I wanted to talk to you alone and I wanted to make sure Boyd and Derek weren’t there to stop me.”

“Are you about to threaten to kill me if I hurt him? Because I’m pretty sure my murder-brows boyfriend will just do that himself.”

“No, Stiles.” Erica laughs. “I want to help you plan Derek’s birthday.”

“Oh my God.” Stiles’ eyes widen in horror. “I don’t know Derek’s birthday. I don’t know my own boyfriends birthday. Did I miss it?”

Erica rolls her eyes. “No. Well, technically yes. But you guys didn’t know each other yet. I think. I don’t know, his birthday is in June.”

“We met in August.”

“And now we have three months to plan the greatest birthday Derek will ever have.”

“What did you guys do last year?”

“Nothing.”

“What?!”

“Derek hates his birthday.” Erica informs him. 

“So why are we planning a party?” Stils can’t tell if he’s drunk or if Erica just isn’t making sense. Probably both.

“Because,” Erica sighs. “Derek actually has friends now. And a boyfriend. So he’s getting a party.” 

Before Stiles can respond, Scott is dragging him away to the next bar. Erica follows closely behind, arms linked with Lydia. If Stiles was any level of sober, he would realize the terrifying friendship being started and put a stop to it. He would fail, but at least when they took over the world he could say he tried to stop it.

 

“Any idea why Erica ditched us and stole my boyfriend?” Derek asks, sipping his beer.

“Nope.” Boyd answers. “I’m not too concerned, but this  _ is  _ Erica we’re talking about.”

“I’m sure Stiles is fine.”

“It’s not him I’m worried about.” Boyd says, signaling the bartender for another beer. “It’s one of us.”

“I hope it’s you.” Derek laughs.

“Ditto.” Boyd laughs back. “Cheers.”

 

Team Wristband, as Scott affectionately named them, arrive at the Tropicana at 3am. There’s still two hours left of the bar crawl, but the Tropicana is  _ huge.  _ As in, there are three floors; one of which is a casino. 

“How am I gonna find Derek?” Stiles whines.

“Text him.” Erica giggles.

“I’ve had my phone this whole time and I didn’t even think of that.”

“Well you’re not the smart one.” Scott chimes in.

“Then who is?”

“Lydia.” Erica and Scott answer at the same time.

Stiles crosses his arms. “Well Lydia didn’t think of it either.”

“That’s cause I didn’t get split up from my boyfriend.” Lydia laughs, before dragging Jackson away to the casino.

“Whatever.” Stiles huffs.

“Oh, lighten up. It’s only been three hours and they’re literally right there.”

Stiles looks in the direction Erica is pointing and sprints over without saying goodbye. Erica, however, does call after him.

“Keep it in your pants.”

 

Derek sees Stiles running towards him just early enough to prevent them from both falling to the ground from the impact. Stiles is kissing him the second they’re both standing steadily. 

“Gross.” Cora teases.

“Missed you.” Stiles mumbles, ignoring her.

“Missed you, too, drunky.”

“I’m only a little drunk.” Stiles says, but the words take more effort than he’d like to admit. “I’m also tired. And I have to pee.”

“Let’s go find the bathroom.”

“Real subtle, guys.” Erica interrupts them. Stiles hadn’t even noticed she followed him over here. He also momentarily forgot they were in the middle of a giant hotel and casino.

“He has to pee, Erica.” Derek says defensively. He’s  _ not  _ going to have sex with Stiles in a public bathroom. Especially not if it’s their first time together. Although, according to Danny everyone thinks they’ve done it already and are making bets on how long it takes them to sneak off to do it. But Derek is pretty sure he only meant him and Jackson are making bets. 

Before Erica can respond, Derek is leading Stiles towards the very large sign labeled “Restrooms”

 

“Erica thinks we’re gonna bang in here.” Stiles says, laughing as they enter the bathroom. His words echo loudly in the empty space.

“I know. Go pee.”

“We could, you know.” 

“No, we can’t.”

Stiles turns around to pout at Derek from where he’s standing at the urinal.

“I’m not banging you in a public bathroom.”

“What about a hotel room?”

“Wash your hands.” Derek says instead of responding. 

After Stiles dries his hands, he turns to face Derek. He jumps up slightly so that he’s sitting on the small counter where the sinks are.

“Can you come kiss me?” He asks.

“I said I’m not going to-”

“I said  _ kiss,  _ Derek.”

Derek rolls his eyes fondly and takes the two steps towards Stiles, who tilts his head up so that his mouth can reach Derek’s. Once their lips connect, Stiles pulls Derek closer so that Derek takes the final step to slot himself between Stiles’ legs. Stiles must not think it’s close enough, though, because he’s still trying to pull Derek closer. Derek shift his weight slightly and then freezes when he feels Stiles’ dick brush against his own. Stiles moans softly and Derek refuses to acknowledge that both of their dicks just twitched. 

“Derek-” Stiles whispers.

“Let’s go back to the hotel.”

 

It’s only four blocks back to the hotel, so Derek suggest that they walk. Apparently, Stiles thinks that “walk” means “run” so they make it there in record time, out of breath and laughing. Derek keys them in the room and is thankful to find it empty. He checks the clock.

“Nobody should be back for at least another hour.” Derek says, sitting on the edge of the bed to take his shoes off.

“Good.” Stiles smiles, straddling Derek before he can even reach for his shoe.

“Stiles-”

But that’s all Derek can get out before Stiles is kissing him. Derek didn’t even realize he was hard until Stiles is grinding down on him. They both let out quiet moans into each others mouths. Derek forgets whatever excuse he was about to say and kisses Stiles back hungrily. They continue like that for what feels like hours, kissing and grinding and soft moans.

“Please-” Stiles begs into the crook of Derek’s neck.

“I didn’t-” Derek starts, shutting his eyes in an attempt to focus. “I didn’t bring anything.”

Stiles groans in frustration at the same time Derek shifts his hips, causing Stiles to cut himself off in a squeak. He doesn’t even have time to be embarrassed, though, because then Derek is flipping them so that his body is covering Stiles’ completely.

“At least take your shirt off.” 

Derek obliges. At the new angle, Derek can grind his hips down so that they’re fully clothed erections rub together perfectly with every thrust his hips. They’re barely even kissing, more so just moaning into each others mouths. Stiles occasionally flicks his tongue against Derek’s lips and it makes Derek’s hips stutter every time. Naturally, Derek’s mind wanders to that tongue flicking against other places and he feels the heat start to build in his stomach.

“Stiles.” Derek pants. “I’m gonna-”

“Me, too. Fuck. I was waiting for you, I thought I was going to die.” Stiles is talking fast, rambling. “God, you feel so good.”

“Stiles.” Derek pants again, his only warning before he’s coming hard and slow, still thrusting his hips against Stiles. He’s vaguely aware of Stiles writhing beneath him desperately before the younger boy is letting out a soft, high-pitched whine. 

“Did we both just come in our pants like a bunch of middle schoolers?” Stiles jokes moments later, breathless.

“Sure did.” Derek laughs, pressing a kiss to Stiles’ forehead before rolling off of him. “I’m gonna go shower.”

“Wake me up when you’re done so I can go!”

They both shower quickly and are asleep before everyone else gets back.

 

Derek is thankful to wake up to only Stiles, Scott, and Allison in the room. Allison is already awake, the TV on a low volume.

“Morning.” She says cheerfully.

“What time is it?” Derek asks, throat dry. “I feel like I was hit by a truck.”

“You look like it, too.” Allison giggles. “It’s a little past 2pm.”

“Jesus.”

“We were up late, I doubt anyone else is awake.”

Derek manages to untangle himself from Stiles without disturbing him. “How are you awake? How are you  _ alive _ ?”

“I don’t really get hangovers.” Allison says, shrugging.

“Asshole.”

Allison frowns playfully. “You don’t mean that Der Bear!”

“I do now that you called me that.”

Allison laughs, waking Scott, who groans. “Shut the fuck up.”

“I hope Stiles is less grumpy when he wakes up.” Allison mutters.

“No promises.” Comes a muffled voice.

“I’ll go see who else is awake. You all should shower, you smell like stale beer and something...else.” 

Derek is too hungover to be embarrassed. Plus, him and Stiles both showered, so there’s  _ no way  _ Allison is smelling anything under than his morning breath and the alcohol seeping through his pores.

 

Allison returns several minutes later, looking slightly less cheerful. “Everyone else is awake, we’re ordering room service in Erica’s room. If you’re not there in 5 minutes to order, you get the scraps.” And then she’s gone again.

“I guess the rest of them are just as grumpy as us.” Scott laughs.

 

Everyone drags themselves to Erica, Boyd, Isaac, and Cora’s room, nobody looking any better than Derek feels. Except Allison.

“Come in, make yourself at home.” Erica greets them, her chipper voice a surprise compared to how she looks. “The beds are safe, everything is very PG in here.” She assures them.

Derek shoots Isaac a glare.

“I shared a bed with Erica, you psycho.” Cora says grumpily. Isaac nods enthusiastically. “Besides, it’s not like nobody noticed you two sneaking off.”

“We didn’t-” Derek starts.

“Nobody cares.” Jackson growls from where he’s laying on the bed, hotel phone propped up against his ear. “What do you want to eat?”

They all order room service. A very long list of omelettes, bacon, and pancakes for the most part. Except Danny, who orders a berry smoothie and whole wheat toast. Weirdo.

 

After their very late breakfast and another nap, they all make their way back to their rooms to get ready to head home.

“I’m glad everyone looks like shit.” Stiles says once they’re back in the room. “Makes me feel better about my current state.” Derek realizes it’s the first thing he’s said all day.

Before Derek can assure him that he looks fine, Allison calls out a “Not everyone.” from the bathroom.

Stiles laughs.

“You feeling okay?” Derek asks.

“Yeah. I, uh, actually blacked out last night. Don’t really remember anything after like, the second bar, so.”

“I’m not surprised. We were drinking for almost 24 hours straight.”

“Yeah.” Stiles mumbles. “And then Allison’s comment this morning, and then Cora’s. I thought-”

“Oh my God, no. Stiles, we didn’t-”

“I know.” Stiles laughs. “But I thought we  _ did  _ and I was so mad at myself for not remembering it. Like, all I remember is dry humping you and it was like, wow I can remember  _ that  _ but not anything else?”

Derek sits on the edge of the bed and motions for Stiles to sit next to him. “Although you were very eager, I wouldn’t have taken advantage of you like that.” Derek assures him, pressing a kiss to the top of Stiles’ head.

“I  _ know  _ that.” Stiles groans. “I was mostly just mad at myself for forgetting it. How eager was I, exactly? Like, embarrassing level?”

“Never embarrassing.”

Stiles feels his face redden despite Derek’s assurances. Scott knocks on their door to let them know they’re leaving and Stiles gives Derek a confused look.

“How are you leaving without us?” Stiles yells. “Derek drove.”

Scott peeks his head in the door. “We’re gonna squeeze into Ethan’s truck. Lydia and Allison wanna stop at this weird antique dress shop.”

“Okay.” Stiles says, eyeing Scott suspiciously.

“Okay, bye!” Scott calls, closing the door before Derek or Stiles can say anything else.

“Did he leave without Allison?”

“She must’ve snuck out while I was drowning in my own embarrassment.” Stiles says, frowning. “I think our friends are ditching us.”

“I think they noticed your mood and didn’t wanna bug you.”

“Still rude.”

“Alright, grumpy.” Derek laughs. “Let’s get the car packed up and hit the road.”

 

They leave the hotel at 5, and stop for dinner at 7. Stiles makes Derek share his milkshake, even though he doesn’t share his curly fries.

“Why don’t you just dip the curly fries  _ in  _ the milkshake?”

_ I love you.  _ Is what Stiles almost says. “You’re a genius.” Is what he actually says.

 

They don’t get back to Beacon Hills until 11pm and Stiles doesn’t miss the suspicious look his dad gives him when only Derek and Stiles get out of the car.

“Don’t worry dad, my virtue is still very much in tact.” Stiles assures him. His mumble of “Unfortunately.” doesn’t go unnoticed by Derek.

“I really didn’t ask, Stiles.” John says tiredly. 

 

Derek helps Stiles carry his bags to his room and is tempted to stay when John asks.

“You could, if you want.” Stiles says, his eyes practically begging. 

_ I love you.  _ Derek thinks, and the truth behind it hits Derek in a wave.

“Not sick of me yet?” Derek teases, pushing the thought to the back of his mind. For now. “You just spend all weekend with me.”

“Never sick of you.” Stiles mumbles, leaning in for a kiss. Derek meets him halfway and Stiles sighs. 

“I’ll come over breakfast tomorrow morning.”

“Fine.” Stiles says in mock annoyance. “But I leave for school again on Thursday so you only have four more days of Stiles Time.”

“Stiles Time?”

“Yeah, best time of your life.” Stiles waggles his eyebrows.

Derek kisses him goodnight and makes his way downstairs.

 

“Have fun?” John asks, after Stiles has watches Derek’s car disappears down the street.

“You have no idea.”

“Ew, Stiles.”

“Not like that, Daaaad.” Stiles whines.

  
_ I almost told him I loved him.  _ Derek thinks to himself as he’s settling into bed. Of course, Stiles had the same thought right before he fell asleep, too.


	4. Spring

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Derek visits Stiles at school and they bang.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not good at writing smut but there is some in this chapter!! It had to be done. Once again, this is unbeta'd so sorry for any and all errors. Enjoy :)
> 
> Also this chapter is pretty short compared to the others but the next one will be longer!!

_ I got it one piece at a time _

_ And it didn't cost me a dime _

_ You'll know it's me when I come through your town _

_ I'm gonna ride around in style _

_ I'm gonna drive everybody wild _

_ 'Cause I'll have the only one there is around. _

 

Stiles goes back to school and Derek is fine. Really. So fine that he only mopes for 3 days after Stiles leaves. It probably would have been longer, but there was a 5 car pile-up in the mall parking lot so the shop gets pretty busy. Derek wishes he had a “seasonal” car shop like Scott. 

Then again, he needs the money, Scott doesn’t.

 

Derek promised Stiles he’d come visit him at school so naturally Stiles has texted him every day since he’s left asking if Derek knows when he’s coming yet.

_ From Stiles: I wanna let my roommate know, u know? gotta be considerate _

_ To Stiles: You live with Scott… _

_ From Stiles: He still deserves the courtesy!!! _

 

Derek visits the second weekend in April. Stiles has only been gone three weeks.

 

“I can’t believe you’re here!” Stiles says excitedly, throwing Derek’s stuff into his bedroom. “Scott is at Allison’s for the weekend so we have the whole apartment to ourselves. I made him quadruple check that he had everything so he didn’t have to come back to grab anything. You hungry?”

It takes Derek’s brain a minute to process everything Stiles said before he realizes he was asked a question. “Yeah, I could eat.” 

“Chinese?”

“Sure.”

“Want a tour?”

“Stiles, it’s a very small apartment.”

Derek lets Stiles drag him through the apartment anyway.

“So this is the front door where you came in-”

“Stiles.”

“Shut up, I’m giving you a tour. Emergency exits, and all. In case of an emergency.” 

Derek rolls his eyes.

“So that is the front door,” Stiles continues. “This is the living room, the kitchen is over there, and the bathroom is down the hallway.” Derek follows Stiles the 30 feet to the hallway leading to the bedrooms. “So, Scott’s door is on the left, the bathroom is the second door on the left. And my bedroom is on the right.”

“And the emergency exit?”

“The front door, obviously.”

Derek sighs. “Can I take a nap now?”

 

Stiles insists on leading Derek to his bedroom, even though they are literally standing 2 feet away. Derek tells him as much, and Stiles tells him to shut up.

Stiles’ room is pretty similar to his room at home. There’s a few movie posters on the walls, papers all over his desk, assorted books on the shelf. The only noticeable difference is his bed. At home, his bed has a frame, and a box spring, a headboard, the works. At school, Stiles’ bed is a mattress. On the floor. It’s a comfortable mattress, Derek reasons with himself. 

“I broke the box spring jumping on the bed.” Stiles says, reading Derek’s thoughts. “Never replaced it.”

“Of course.” Derek laughs. He takes off his shoes and lays on the bed, thankful to be wearing sweatpants. “I’m gonna take a nap.”

“I’m gonna cuddle with you.”

Derek hums to let Stiles know he approves of that idea. He stretches his arms out so that Stiles can fit himself around Derek. Once Stiles is settles into Derek’s right side, Derek wraps his arms around him. Stiles nuzzles his nose into Derek’s neck and inhales.

“Are you sniffing me?” Derek murmurs. 

Stiles is glad Derek can’t see his face because it’s  _ definitely  _ red with embarrassment. His only response is to tighten his arms around Derek’s waist.

 

Derek must have been way more tired than he thought because the next thing he knows Stiles is waking him up an hour later with greasy Chinese food.

“I was gonna wait for you but I was hungry.” 

Derek laughs. “Is there anything left?”

“Duh.” Stiles says, rolling his eyes. “Saved you some rice, and chicken, and the tiniest bit of lo mein cause it’s my favorite but I love you so I didn’t eat it all.”

Derek almost doesn’t catch it, but then Stiles gets a horrified look on his face and it all clicks.

“You know,” Stiles coughs out, his face red as ever. “Like, we’re friends and I wouldn’t want you to starve and stuff. And lo mein could be your favorite, too. So, yeah. Saved you some.”

“Stiles.” Derek’s voice is still rough with sleep.

“Oh God.” Stiles groans. “Don’t say my name like that if you’re about to reject me.”

“Why would I reject you?”

“Cause I just accidentally told you I loved you and you  _ still  _ haven’t said anything.” Stiles’ face is returning to its normal color now, though his eyes are fierce with something Derek can’t place.

“Accidently? So you didn’t mean it?” Derek asks, sitting up straighter so he can cross his arms.

“Of course I meant it, don’t be an idiot. I just didn’t mean for it to slip out like that. I imagined a much more romantic setting.”

Derek relaxes and shifts so that he can kneel on the bed, making himself eye level with Stiles. “Put the food down.” He says lowly.

“Why?”

“Because I love you and I’m about to kiss you and I don’t want you to drop our dinner.”

Stiles drops it anyway.

“You love me, too?”

Derek laughs, they’re so close Stiles can feel it on his face. “Yeah.”

“Are you sure?”

“Stiles.”

“Okay.” They’re quiet for a moment. “I thought you said something about kissing me.”

Derek closes the gap between them and is instantly met with Stiles pressing his body flush against his. They both groan softly at the contact. Derek’s been hard since he woke up, and Stiles’ love confession didn’t help.

“We don’t have to-” Derek starts.

“Shut up. I went to the store this morning. I have enough lube and condoms to last us through the Apocalypse.” Stiles retorts, before attaching his lips to Derek’s again.

They somehow maneuver themselves so that Stiles is straddling Derek. He grinds his hips down at the same time Derek lifts his up and Derek’s clothed dick rubs against the seam of Stiles’ jeans and he will deny the whine that leaves his mouth later but right now he  _ really  _ needs to get Stiles naked.

“Clothes.” Derek pants.

“Yeah, you’re wearing way too many.” Stiles agrees, clawing at Derek’s shirt. Derek takes it off and helps Stiles do the same.

“Take your jeans off.” Derek groans, touching every inch of Stiles’ torso.

“I’ve never done this before.” Stiles blurts out.

Derek freezes, immediately removing his hands from where they were gripping the younger boys hips.

“I want to!” Stiles says. “But I’ve never done this before and I just want you to know-”

“What about Danny?” Derek asks, ignoring the jealousy that spikes up whenever he thinks about it.

“I topped, that hardly counts. I’ve never-”

“Did you want to bottom?”

“ _ Yes.”  _ Stiles groans. Derek’s dick twitches in his pants, and with the way Stiles smirks, he definitely felt it. “Wanna ride you, actually.”

Derek can’t help it when his hips buck up slightly, but he grips Stiles’ hips again to try and stop him from squirming.

“Stiles.”

“Derek.”

“Are you sure?”

“If we don’t do this in the next five minute I’m going to need a new pair of pants.”

“Alright, alright. I’ll walk you through it.”

“Let me blow you first.” Stiles says casually and honestly, Derek is going to die. “At least I know I’m good at that.”

Derek nods dumbly and Stiles scoots his way down until he’s settled between Derek’s legs. Derek is once again thankful he’s wearing sweatpants as Stiles effortlessly slides them down. When Stiles sees Derek’s dick for the first time wet with precum, his mouth literally  _ waters. _ He wastes no time taking Derek into his mouth until his nose is pressed against Derek’s happy trail.

“ _ Jesus,  _ Stiles.” Derek gasps. “I’m not gonna last, go easy on me.”

Stiles hums happily around Derek’s dick before pulling off slowly. “If I make you cum right now will you be able to get it up again to fuck me?”

“Oh my God.” Derek groans. “Jesus, yes.”

Stiles smirks before taking Derek into his mouth again. Derek can feel Stiles’ throat flexing around his dick and there’s no way he’s going to last another minute. 

He gets out a quick “Stiles!” as a warning before he’s coming down Stiles’ throat. Stiles doesn’t even flinch, just swallows and pulls off slowly. 

Derek is going to die. 

“Give me like five minutes.” Derek says hoarsely. “And then I’m going to fuck you.”

“Talk me through how to finger myself.”

“You’ve never?” 

“I have.” Stiles smirks. “But I want you to talk me through it, tell me what to do.”

Derek can already feel himself getting hard again. “Jesus, okay. Go get the lube.”

Stiles comes back with a bottle of lube and at least a dozen condoms. Derek sits up so that he’s propped against the wall. Stiles is facing him from the opposite side of the bed, his feet reaching Derek’s calf.

“Go on, then.” Stiles says breathlessly. 

Derek notices he’s naked and can’t stop staring. His dick is flushed and leaking and Derek wants Stiles to fuck him. But he also wants to fuck Stiles. He’s half hard and Stiles hasn’t even started touching himself yet.

“Alright, uh,” Derek’s mouth is dry. “Lube up your fingers.” Stiles does so silently and looks to Derek, waiting for more instructions. Jesus.

“Don’t keep me waiting.” Stiles teases, but his face is desperate.

“Take your pointer finger and circle your hole, but don’t press it in yet.”

“Derek.” Stiles whines, but does as he’s told.

“Alright. Put your pointer finger in. Only up to your first knuckle.” Derek says, watching as Stiles’ finger breaches his hole. He watches the tip of his finger slip inside. “You can move it, don’t go any deeper.”

Stiles groans again, not daring to push his finger in deeper, but desperately thrusts his hips in frustration. “Derek, please.”

“What do you want?”

“I  _ want  _ you to fuck me.” And honestly, only Stiles could be this sassy in his condition.

“Gotta open you up first.”

“Then  _ let me.”  _ Stiles sounds so desperate so Derek takes pity on him.

“Okay. Fuck yourself on that finger, deep as you want.”

Stiles moans, his finger disappearing inside him. “Need more.”

“In a minute.” Derek promises. He’s fully hard now, clenching the sheets so he doesn’t touch himself. “Add another finger.” Derek says after a moment. 

Stiles does before Derek gets the second word out.

“Start stretching yourself. Move your fingers. Add a third when you think you can take it.”

Stiles adds a third almost immediately, working his fingers in and out. His hips are grinding down to meet his fingers. Stiles is panting and moaning and Derek wants to touch him.

“Touch me.” Stiles whispers, reading Derek’s mind. Derek leaps forward, holding himself above Stiles. He kisses him, hard, and reaches down to grab their erections in his hand. 

“Oh,  _ fuck.”  _ Stiles practically yells.

“Don’t stop moving your fingers.” Derek grunts.

“Derek,” Stiles whines. “I’m gonna cum,  _ please- _ ”

Derek releases himself and grabs Stiles’ dick by the base. Stiles is still thrusting his hips desperately. Derek has no idea how he’s lasted this long because he’s about to cum all over Stiles’ torso in a minute. The image causes a spurt of precum to collect at the tip of his dick.

“Jesus, okay.” Derek grabs the lube and a condom from where they’re laying next to Stiles and gets himself situated in record time. “Ready?”

“I was ready the second you got here.”

Derek huffs out a laugh as he lines himself up. He presses in slowly, he’s barely got the head in when Stiles thrusts his hips down until Derek bottoms out. They both moan loudly and Derek almost collapses on top of the younger boy.

“Are you okay?” Derek asks, hoping Stiles didn’t hurt himself. Stiles is so hot and tight around him, it’s an effort not to move. 

Stiles nods enthusiastically. “You can move, just don’t touch my dick unless you want me to cum.”

Derek starts to move his hips slowly at first. Stiles is grabbing at his hips, trying to urge him to move faster. He picks up a faster, steadier pace, angling his hips until he finds the spot that makes Stiles’ whole body jerk.

“Fuck.” Derek grunts. “I’m so close already.”

“Me, too.” Stiles pants, grabbing at Derek’s face. 

Derek slows his pace slightly so he can kiss Stiles. The moment their lips connect, Derek can feel the heat pooling in his stomach. 

“Stiles.” Derek moans.

“Touch me.” Stiles mumbles against his lips.

Derek reaches his hand between them to get his hand on Stiles. Stiles cums almost immediately, and it pushes Derek over the edge, both of them moaning loudly into each others mouths. 

Derek collapses on top of Stiles, who let’s out a laugh.

“As much as I’d love to die this way, we kinda need a shower.” Stiles says, strained. He presses a wet kiss to the side of Derek’s exposed neck. Derek sighs, but rolls off him nonetheless. They’re both covered in Stiles’ mess but Derek can’t bring himself to care. He discards the condom in the conveniently placed trash can next to the bed. He’s about to fall asleep when Stiles laughs loudly.

“What?” 

“Do you think if I heat this up it’ll still taste good?” Stiles asks, picking the Chinese food containers off the floor.

Derek laughs. “I’m so hungry I don’t even care.”

 

Derek showers first and Stiles has the Chinese food ready to go when he gets out. He eats in bed while Stiles showers. 

He falls asleep at one point because suddenly he’s waking up to Stiles’ phone ringing. He’s vaguely aware of Stiles being draped across him before he’s gone, answering his phone.

 

“Scott wanted to know if we wanted to grab lunch.”

Derek frowns at the thought of not laying in bed with Stiles all day.

“Okay, good. I told him we weren’t hungry.” Stiles says, his smile blinding. “Also good morning, you sleep like a rock.”

“Sorry, didn’t mean to fall asleep.”

“It’s okay. I know how you can make it up to me.” Stiles says, waggling his eyebrows.

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah, you could let me fuck you.” 

Derek reaches for him and pulls him onto the bed. He let’s Stiles fuck him and it’s just as good as the night before. The only difference being that they both last longer. Barely.

“We’ll just have to keep practicing.” Stiles suggests. Derek couldn’t agree more.

 

Derek leaves early Sunday morning. He planned to leave earlier but then Stiles suggested a goodbye blowjob “which is totally a thing, Derek.” and it set him back an hour. Stiles also convinces him to leave behind a sweatshirt and a pair of sweatpants.

“I’ll just drive home naked.” Derek jokes.

“Then I  _ really  _ won’t let you leave.”

 

Stiles walks Derek to his car in true gentlemanly fashion. It’s the first time they’ve left Stiles’ apartment all weekend. 

“Next time we’ll go to dinner and stuff.” Derek promises.

_ Next time.  _ Stiles thinks to himself happily. He nods and leans up to kiss Derek.

Derek kisses him back, but pulls away before it gets too heated. “I have to go.” He sighs.

“I know. One more kiss.”

Derek rolls his eyes, but obliges. 

They kiss for another 15 minutes.

 

Scott gets back to the apartment an hour later, takes one look at Stiles, and groans. 

“Oh God, your  _ face.”  _ He says, dropping his bag on the couch. “I can’t even look at it. Is that what I always look like? I’m so sorry, Jesus. This is terrible.”

“What’s wrong with my face?” Stiles says defensively.

“You look...just tell me you didn’t fuck on the couch.”

Stiles smirks. 

“I’m moving out.” Scott shouts, making his way to his room.

 

_ To Derek: Scott is very traumatized by our love :) _

 

Derek answers a few hours later when he arrives back in Beacon Hills.

_ To Stiles: Good. Miss you already. _

 

Derek doesn’t visit again before the school year ends. Their weekends never lined up between Derek being busy at the shop, and Stiles having finals to study for. They text every day, but that doesn’t stop Stiles from freaking out.

“I’m not freaking out, Scott.”

“Yes, you are.” Stiles can hear the eye roll all the way from the living room.

“All I’m saying is that I’m gonna be in Beacon Hills  _ all summer. _ ”

“So?”

“So what if he gets sick of me?”

“You’re an idiot.” Scott says.

 

“Stiles comes home next week.” Derek says, clutching his phone in his hand.

“Why do you look like you’re freaking out?” Erica asks.

“I’m not freaking out.”

“Okay.” Erica says flatly. “But if you  _ were…” _

“What if he finds someone at school who’s closer and not busy all the time?”

“You’re an idiot.”

Before Derek can argue, his phone buzzes with a text.

 

_ From Cora: do NOT kill isaac _

_ To Cora: Why would I kill Isaac? _

_ To Cora: Cora? _

_ To Cora: What did you do? _

 

“Why would I kill Isaac?” Derek asks. 

Erica snorts. “Because he asked Cora to be his girlfriend last night and she said yes.”

 

_ God damnit. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> poor Isaac, had to end the chapter on a less stressful note!


	5. Summer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> little bit of angst, but it all gets resolved! couldn't let this whole thing be fluffy. literal summary of this chapter is that derek is an idiot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is the last chapter. the next thing will be an epilogue. that'll be uploaded either later today or tomorrow :) thanks so much for reading!!!
> 
> (forever unbeta'd sorry for any and all errors)

_ I got it one piece at a time _

_ And it didn't cost me a dime _

_ You'll know it's me when I come through your town _

_ I'm gonna ride around in style _

_ I'm gonna drive everybody wild _

_ 'Cause I'll have the only one there is around. _

 

When Stiles got the invitation in the mail a few months ago, he immediately took his phone out to snap a picture and sent it to Derek.

 

_ To Derek: Wanna be my date??? ;) _

 

Derek had replied with a picture of his invite.

 

_ From Derek: I’m already invited. _

_ To Derek: Yeah but go with me _

_ From Derek: Okay. _

 

Now it’s the day of Lydia and Jackson’s wedding. Lydia is about to become Lydia Martin-Whittemore, because  _ of course  _ she wasn’t going to just take Jackson’s last name. Stiles is so excited he thinks he might burst. If you had told 10 year old Stiles that he would be excited for attending Lydia’s wedding to someone other than himself, he would have laughed and then cried at the thought of LYdia marrying someone else. But here he is, attending Lydia’s wedding with his  _ boyfriend.  _

 

“Character development level 100.” He tells Scott.

“I’d call it ‘realizing Lydia was completely out of your league and moving on accordingly.’”

“Whatever.”

 

Derek insists on driving the four of them in his Camaro. Stiles doesn’t argue. Neither does Allison, who won’t let Scott buy a sports car, but has no problem riding in Derek’s. 

 

Lydia only had two bridesmaids, Allison and Laura. Therefore, Jackson could only have two groomsmen. He picked Danny and Stiles, which was definitely Lydia’s idea but still weird. Allison and Laura are wearing navy blue dresses with a white accent ribbon tied around their waist. Danny and Stiles are wearing black suits with a navy blue tie. Lydia’s dress is gorgeous, with lace accents in all the right places. She’s met at the alter by Jackson, who’s in a navy blue suit and a silver tie. The silver matches the accents in Lydia’s dress perfectly. It’s all very color coordinated. 

Derek tries to enjoy the ceremony and not stare at Danny and Stiles standing next to each other. Scott had grumbled his own annoyance when Stiles walked Allison down the aisle and gave her a dramatic kiss on the cheek. 

Besides that, the ceremony was beautiful. Lydia and Jackson’s vows are short but sweet. Very high school sweethearts-esque. Stiles cries,  _ of course.  _

 

The reception is held in a ballroom just outside Beacon Hills. 

 

“It’s an open bar for wine and beer, liquor is extra.” Erica informs them, already slightly tipsy.

“I think I’m gonna hit the buffet first.” Stiles announces.

“Good idea.” Allison laughs. 

They each fill up a plate and find their table. Thankfully, Allison and Stiles were allowed to sit with Derek and Scott instead of with the rest of the wedding party. They’re joined by Erica and Boyd. 

 

Several plates of food, and even more glasses of wine later, it’s time for Lydia and Jackson to have their first dance. 

“I helped her pick their song.” Stiles whispers, as the beginning notes of “Kiss Me” by Ed Sheeran fill the room.

“How long is the respectable amount of time to wait before we get out there and steal the show?” Derek asks him. 

Stiles laughs loudly. “After the first chorus should be fine.”

Allison and Scott beat them to it, and Stiles totally doesn’t stick his tongue out at them. Almost everyone joins the newlyweds on the dance floor by the time the song is over. It quickly fades into another slow song Stiles doesn’t recognize. Derek makes no move to go back to their table. He keeps his arms around Stiles’ waist.

“Good song choice.” Derek whispers.

“Thanks.” Stiles is beaming. “I can’t believe I cried at the ceremony. Well, I  _ can  _ believe it, but still.”

Derek hums in response. Stiles closes the already miniscule gap between them to rest his head on Derek’s chest as they continue to sway to the music together.

They’re briefly joined by Danny and Ethan. Mostly so Danny can poke fun at Stiles for crying. The twinge of jealousy Derek usually feels while watching Stiles and Danny interact is unaccounted for, which is nice.

“You guys are next.” Danny says with a wink, before literally twirling away.

“I hope so.” Stiles murmurs. 

It takes Derek a second to process Stiles’ mumbled confession and is struck by the realization of just how badly he  _ wants  _ that. He’s also struck by the realization that he’ll never get it. Stiles is still in college, he’s not ready to settle down. And it’s pretty likely he’ll get sick of Derek by the time he  _ is  _ ready. He hugs Stiles tighter so the younger boy can’t see his face. Stiles calls them his “murder brows.” Apparently he gets them when he’s sad, or angry, or concentrating on something. Basically all the time. Normally, Stiles would flatten them out with his thumbs and give Derek a quick kiss. But Derek hides his face because that would only make it worse. 

 

Derek manages to enjoy the rest of the night with Stiles, despite his recent revelation. He drives an extremely intoxicated Stiles back to his house, and walks him inside. John is already asleep, so he tries to keep Stiles as quiet as possible. 

“Derek.” Stiles whispers, wiggling under the covers. Derek had wrapped him tightly in blankets like a burrito to keep him from getting out of bed.

“What.” Derek whispers back.

“Why are you not staying?”

“Because you’re very drunk and I have work early tomorrow.”

“But I wanna cuddle.” Derek can hear the pout in his voice.

“I’ll lay with you til you fall asleep if you promise to actually go to sleep.”

“I promise!”

Derek sighs but lays down. He listens and waits for Stiles’ breathing to even out. His thoughts from earlier come back and Derek can feel his good mood disintegrate. Stiles still as another year left at school. That’s  _ plenty  _ of time for him to find someone else, even with Derek visiting once a month. He doesn’t think Stiles would cheat on him. But Stiles is good looking, and outgoing, and funny. There’s no way there are no other boys, or girls, interested in him. It’s not that he’s insecure about their relationship, he’s just being realistic. Long distance relationships are hard. He lays there contemplating for a little while longer before he’s confident Stiles is asleep. He presses a soft kiss to Stiles’ forehead before he slowly gets up from the bed.

“Love you.” Stiles mumbles, barely audible between the alcohol and sleep.

“Love you.” Derek whispers back. 

 

_ I’m so fucked.  _ He thinks to himself as he gets into his own bed, regretfully wishing he spent the night with Stiles.

  
  


Derek is not avoiding Stiles. He’s very busy at the shop. He definitely doesn’t change the same tire three times so that he misses dinner, and he  _ definitely  _ isn’t avoiding Stiles.

 

It’s just.

 

Derek needs space. He needs space to get himself together. He loves Stiles, probably more than Stiles loves him. So he needs space so that it doesn’t kill him when Stiles leaves him. But he can’t tell Stiles that he needs space because “space” sounds like “break up” and that is  _ not  _ what Derek wants. At all.

 

“Why are you avoiding Stiles?” Erica asks the second she walks into the shop. It’s been a little over a week since the wedding. Derek hasn’t seen Stiles since the wedding, but they still text. After a few days Stiles accused him of avoiding him, but Derek assured him he was just busy.

“I’m not.” Derek answers.

“Are you sure?.”

Derek sighs. “I just need space.”

“Did you tell him that?”

“No.”

“Because you’re avoiding him.”

Derek doesn’t answer.

“Don’t be an idiot, Derek.” Is all Erica says, before getting to work.

 

It’s another week before Stiles storms into the shop. Derek is sitting at the front desk. The shop is dead. Shit. 

 

“Wow, looks really busy in here. Guess you won’t be attending dinner tonight, huh?” Stiles is pissed. Derek is screwed.

“I-”

“Why are you avoiding me?”

“I’m not avoiding you, Stiles.”

“Really? Cause this is the first interaction we’ve had in two weeks.”

“That’s not-”

“It is true.” Stiles is yelling now.

“I’m sorry. I’ve been really busy. Erica keeps asking for the day off and-”

“Are you sick of me, is that it?” Stiles interrupts, scarily calm. The question punches Derek right in the stomach. It’s eerily similar to the exact question Derek wants to ask Stiles.

“It’s not that.”

“Is it because I said I wanted to marry you?”

Derek is silent. He wants to tell Stiles that that’s not it. But it is, isn’t it? Stiles said it, Derek realized he’ll never have it, and now here they are. 

“Sorry the thought of spending the rest of your life with me freaked you out so much you decided to avoid me.” Stiles isn’t yelling, but his tone may as well be stabbing him in the heart with every word. Derek doesn’t have time to respond before the door of the shop is slamming closed behind Stiles. It’s not like Derek had anything to say, anyway.

 

Derek is not moping. He hasn’t smiled since Stiles stormed out on him a week ago, but he’s not moping. He hasn’t turned his phone on in three days, but he’s not moping.

“Stop moping.” Erica scolds him.

Derek opens his mouth to respond, but Boyd cuts him off.

“Don’t say you’re not moping.”

“Just go to his house and apologize.” Erica says cooly.

“What makes you think I’m the one who needs to apologize?” It’s a stupid question.

“Did you or did you not tell Stiles that the thought of spending the rest of your life with him made you so uncomfortable that you couldn’t bare to be near him?”

“Is that what he said?” Derek asks, bewildered. 

“I’m paraphrasing.”

“Well, that’s not what I said. I didn’t say anything.”

“Why do I feel like that’s the problem?”

Derek sighs and makes his way to his office, closing the door behind him.

“Don’t be an idiot, Derek.” Erica calls from the front of the shop.

“Too late.” He mumbles back.

 

Stiles is moping. He’s not even going to pretend he’s not. He’s written and rewritten dozens of texts to Derek and he decidedly did not send them. He’s debated calling him or going back to the shop. The only thing stopping him is that he has no idea what to say. What do you say to your boyfriend after yelling at him for not wanting to marry you? It’s not like Stiles  _ proposed. _ He also keeps referring to Derek as his boyfriend. Only in his head, but still. He has no idea the current state of their relationship because he’s been too busy moping to find out.

 

He hasn’t left his room all week, which is where Scott finds him. Moping.

 

“Get up, what’s wrong with you?”

“So polite, Scott.”

“Did you and Derek have a fight?”

“Maybe.”

“Did you break up?”

“I don’t know.”

“How do you not know?” Scott sounds as confused as Stiles feels.

“Because I yelled at him and then left.”

“What did you fight about?”

“I asked him if he was avoiding me because I kinda, sorta, said I wanted to marry him. It’s not like I proposed or anything. But we were dancing at the wedding and Danny said we were next and I said I hope so and then Derek was avoiding me and I asked him if that was why and he didn’t say anything.”

“And then you yelled at him?”

“And then I yelled at him.” Stiles answers weakly.

“Go shower.” Scott demands. “I’ll be right back and then we’re going to the diner and eating as many greasy cheeseburgers as we can.”

Before Stiles can argue or ask where he’s going, Scott is gone. Stiles sighs but gets himself into the shower nonetheless. He checks his phone afterwards and sees a text from Scott.

_ From Scott: meet me @ the diner _

 

“What’s your problem?”

Derek looks up to find Scott, who looks angrier than Derek has ever seen him.

“What-”

“Do  _ not  _ ask me what I’m talking about.”

“Okay.” Derek sighs.

“If you don’t want to be with him then break up with him.”

“It’s not that.” Derek feels defeated at this point. If Scott is yelling at him that probably means Stiles is in bad shape, too. There’s a pang of hurt in his chest at the thought of Stiles being just as miserable as he is.

“Then  _ what  _ is your problem?”

“I just don’t want to lose him.” Derek confesses, and he already feels lighter admitting it.

“And you thought avoiding him was the best way to prevent that?” Scott asks sarcastically.

“No. When Stiles said he wanted to marry me, it didn’t freak me out. Well, it did. But not in a bad way. It freaked me out because I felt the same way. Feel. I feel the same way. I thought if I could distance myself it wouldn’t hurt as bad when he finds someone else or when he just gets sick of me.”

“You’re an idiot.”

“Erica mentioned that, yeah.”

Scott is silent for a minute before he sighs.

“He’s at the diner. I told him to meet me there. I planned to return with your cold, dead heart on a silver platter. But I think it’d be better for everyone if you just went there and told him what you just told me.”

Derek says nothing. Just rushes out the door, calling a quick “Thank you!” over his shoulder as an afterthought. He doesn’t really care if Scoot heard him or not.

 

Derek doesn’t even hesitate in the parking lot. He puts his car in park, shuts it off, and walks right into the diner. He spots Stiles right away, and he looks less than thrilled to see him.

“I’m meeting Scott,” Stiles says in way of a greeting. But he doesn’t object when Derek sits down across from him. “And he probably wants to kill you right now so you probably shouldn’t be here.”

“He did want to kill me. Told me he was going to give you my cold, dead heart on a silver platter. That’s a direct quote.”

Stiles smiles, but it’s quickly replaced with a scowl. “Are you here to let me do it instead?”

“No.” Derek says softly, ignoring the knot in his throat. He knows Stiles is joking. Probably. “I’m actually here to tell you that it didn’t freak me out when you said you wanted to marry me.” Stiles opens his mouth to interrupt, but Derek continues. “It freaked me out because I want that, too. But I didn’t think I could have it. You’re still young and you have a whole year left of school. I figured that was plenty of time for you to find someone else, or get sick of me, or just decide you didn’t want to be with me anymore. So it freaked me out how badly I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Because I didn’t think it was possible. I love you, and I’m sorry I avoided you instead of telling you what I was thinking.”

“You’re an idiot.” Stiles says after a moment, but there’s no malice behind it.

“That’s the general consensus.” 

“I’m sorry for yelling at you.”

“I’m gonna kiss you now.” Derek makes his way around to the other side of the table as Stiles stands to meet him. Their lips crash together and Stiles is clawing at his back trying to bring them closer together. They don’t pull away until an older couple a few booths over clear their throats. Derek, at least, has the decency to look apologetic. Stiles just beams at them.

“This is my boyfriend.” He tells them. They roll their eyes, but go back to eating their food. “You wanna marry me, huh?” He says, after they've both sat down on their respective sides of the table.

Derek rolls his eyes. “Don’t let it go to your head.”

“You better not try and propose to me first.”

“You said ‘I love you’ first, I get to propose.”

“Fine.” Stiles says in mock annoyance. “Just don’t hide the ring in my lo mein.”

“Deal.” Derek agrees, and signals the waitress.


	6. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> fluffy sentimental ending to the most cliche fic ever written hahaha enjoy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay i lied i wrote this and uploaded it way quicker than expected. it's super short, but hopefully it's everything you wanted and more. pleaaaase let me know about any plot inconsistencies. this whole thing got away from me so there's probably something mis-matched somewhere. thank you SO much for reading!! this is my first fic in a while and my first one for the teen wolf fandom ever so the support has truly meant a lot!!!

_ I got it one piece at a time _

_ And it didn't cost me a dime _

_ You'll know it's me when I come through your town _

_ I'm gonna ride around in style _

_ I'm gonna drive everybody wild _

_ 'Cause I'll have the only one there is around. _

 

Stiles graduates as head of the English program. Derek is pretty sure John invites the entirety of Beacon Hills to the ceremony. It ends up taking him an extra semester, so he’s one of fifty graduates in December, instead of the normal hundreds that graduate in May. As head of the English program, he gives the closing speech. Everyone has been given their diplomas. Derek cheered embarrassingly loud when they called Stiles’ name. He wasn’t anywhere near as loud as Scott, though. 

When Derek and Stiles attended Scott’s graduation a few months earlier, Stiles cheered so loud and so long that he almost got kicked out. Scott didn’t even pretend to be mad.

As Stiles approaches the podium, Derek can’t help but smile. He’s so proud and he promised Erica he wouldn’t get emotional, but there are definitely tears welling up behind his eyes. 

“Keep it together.” Erica whispers. Derek is about to tell her that he’s fine when he realizes she was actually talking to John, who is definitely crying.

“I just can’t believe he graduated.” John jokes.

“Welcome students, staff, friends, and family.” Stiles voice is even and steady as it fills the large auditorium. “I want to first congratulate everyone, including myself, on graduating. We did it!” There’s a short intermission of applause. “Personally, I’d like to thank my dad, my best friend, Scott, and my boyfriend, Derek. They’ve really supported me. Even though I changed my major three times, they never told me to give up or stick it out with something I didn’t like. Dad, like many other parents in the audience today, you’ve supported me emotionally, mentally, and financially.” The audience chuckles and there are several ‘whoops’ of agreement from the graduates.

“Scott, you’ve been my best friend since we were in diapers. Even though we didn’t graduate together, because you just  _ have  _ to beat me at everything, you still were there for me during my final semester. Can I get a round of applause for all the best friends in the audience?” There are cheers and claps from both the audience and the stage. Derek is beaming at how naturally Stiles can win over a crowd.

“And Derek,” Derek straightens. He doubt Stiles can tell from this far away, but he’s holding the younger boys gaze. “It’s not easy being far away from your partner for the majority of your time together, but you supported me anyway. Even when I made the last minute decision to switch to Journalism and delay graduation an extra semester. I wouldn’t have survived the year without your words of encouragement, care packages, or surprise visits. Thanks for not getting sick of me. Can I get a round of applause for Derek and all the other supportive significant others that are here today?” Derek doesn’t even feel embarrassed for clapping for himself. 

“Before I let you all go out and celebrate, I do have one more thing I’d like to say.” The audience settles down and Scott is staring at him intently. “Not everyone graduates college in 4 years. Some people start college and never graduate. Some people never even attend college. The same way that some people never meet their soulmate.” Derek’s heart speeds up. There’s no way- “Derek,” Stiles says, his voice wavering slightly. “Even though when we first met I was convinced you were trying to kill me, I knew you were my soulmate. I knew that we were going to spend the rest of our lives together, way before I admitted it out loud. I love you and I know I promised I would let you propose to me, but I  _ really  _ couldn’t help myself.”

“Oh my God.” Derek can hardly breathe. He barely registers Scott dragging him towards the stage as Stiles continue. 

“It’s been really hard to keep this a secret and I hope you weren’t suspicious when you realized that half of Beacon Hills is here. But once I started planning, everyone wanted to be a part of it. I love you so much and I have a very important question for you.” Derek is at the podium now and Stiles is stepping down off the platform, taking the microphone with him.

“Derek Hale,” Stiles says, his eyes steadily on Derek’s as he drops down to one knee. “Will you marry me?”

Derek nods dumbly, choking out a “Yes.” before pulling Stiles up to kiss him. Derek knows the cheers from the audience is deafening, but he barely registers it as Stiles slips the ring on his finger.

“You asshole,  _ I  _ was supposed to propose.”

“That’s fiance to you, now.”

“I love you.” Derek can’t stop smiling. He feels like his face is going to fall off, but he can’t stop. 

“Congratulations to the graduating class, you’re all invited to the wedding! Have a great night!” Stiles announces into the microphone, before setting it back on the podium and throwing himself back into Derek’s arms.

Most of the auditorium empties out after that. A few people linger to congratulate them, mostly people from Stiles’ classes. Allison is crying when they reach her, Scott, and the rest of their friends.

“I can’t believe you guys are engaged.” Cora sniffs.

“Me either.” Derek says breathlessly, looking at the golden band on his ring finger.

“I can’t believe you guys beat us to it.” Allison jokes, wiping her eyes.

 

They all go to dinner to celebrate and Stiles and Scott make a running list of who’s beaten who at things throughout the years. Stiles writes “proposing” in his column and draws a border of hearts around it. Scott’s column is significantly longer, but it doesn’t stop him from scowling. 

 

He proposes to Allison the next day.

 

The End.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you again!!!! if you read this and didnt absolutely hate it, or took the time to leave kudos or comments, know i love you very dearly :)

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos are always welcome :)


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